Biochorion
In ecology, a biochorion is a concentration point for individuals of a species. The seldom used term is more or less synonymous with the more widely used term habitat .
The term was introduced into science by the Finnish beetle researcher (coleopterologist) Rolf Krogerus . According to Krogerus, a biochorion is “ the place within a biotope where an animal can regularly be found because it offers the most important, most indispensable living conditions ”. He introduces the expression as a replacement for the term habitat in order to achieve a linguistic harmony with “biotope” to reach. The term was popularized by the ecologist Wolfgang Tischler . A synonymous, later introduced expression for the same is "choriotop". The definition at Tischler was largely adopted in Matthias Schaefer's dictionary .
According to this definition, a biochorion is the action center or the area of the individual concentration of an organism population within a (larger) biotope, which is not independent in its species composition, but depends on that of the biotope as a whole. Examples are carrion , animal structures, dead wood such as fallen tree trunks or tree stumps.
The term is out of use today and is rarely used. In the English-speaking world there is no direct equivalent, the term “minor habitat” is usually used here. Confusingly, however, there is the expression “biochore”, in English “biochore” in the parlance of biogeography , and paleobiogeography , which deals with the historical, only fossilized communities of past geological ages. The new term “biochorema” was also proposed here for the corresponding biogeographical units. The term biochore means a large living space with its own climate and its own, sometimes endemic, flora and fauna. Today the synonymous term biome is usually used for this.
Individual evidence
- ↑ Rolf Krogerus (1932) On the ecology and distribution of the arthropods of the drift sand areas on the coasts of Finland. Acta zoologica Fennica 12. 113 p. + Plates. Definition on p. 12
- ^ W. Carpenter: Basic features of terrestrial animal ecology. 220 p., Braunschweig, Vieweg Verlag, 1949.
- ↑ Stefan Nehring & Ute Albrecht (2000): Biotop, Habitat, Microhabitat - A contribution to the discussion on the definition of terms. Lauterbornia 38: 75-84.
- ↑ a b M. Schaefer: Dictionaries of Biology: Ecology. Jena and Stuttgart, Gustav Fischer Verlag, 3rd edition 1992 (UTB Taschenbuch 430) ISBN 3 8252 0430 8 . Biochorion on p. 47
- ^ F. Cecca & GEG Westermann (2003): Towards a guide to palaeobiogeographic classi ¢ cation. Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology 201: 179-181. doi : 10.1016 / S0031-0182 (03) 00557-1