A scale-dependent ‘functional’ assessment of the concept of endemism

Whether a species can be defined as ‘endemic’ or not is very controversial in theoretical terms, because the concepts of ‘endemism’ and ‘area of endemism’ remain much debated among scientists. We propose that it is necessary to consider the body size scale of an organism and the breadth of its distributional range if we want to define a given species as ‘endemic’ or not. Thus, for instance, Madagascar can be an appropriate area of endemism for...