On the concept of chorotype

Recent reviews of the meaning of the word chorotype' in biogeography have led to contrasting definitions and a confusion of concepts. This is because chorotype' has been used by different authors to express two different concepts: (1) groups of species with overlapping ranges (overall distributions) and (2) groups of species with a similar distribution within a certain area. To avoid confusion, I suggest the term global chorotype' be used to indicate a group into which species with similar ranges can be classified; and regional chorotype' be used for a group of species with similar distributions within a certain region. Although the global chorotype represents the world-wide spatial responses of species to historical and environmental pressures, and does not vary with the area under consideration, a particular species might be classified into different regional chorotypes in different study areas.