Relationship between precipitation and species distribution

Abstract

Climate includes the complete range of weather typically experienced within a territory through all the seasons of the year. In biogeography and macroecology, bioclimatic envelopes are the combination of all the climatic variables that limit the distribution of a species or biome. Temperature and precipitation are the most critical factors that control the distribution of species in terrestrial ecosystems. All the ecosystems of Earth are linked and maintained by water, and water availability drives species distribution. In this chapter, we deal with the relationship between precipitation and species distribution. Additionally, we present ecological niche modeling as an optimal tool to explore the relationships between geographical occurrences of species and environmental variables. Niche modeling techniques are beneficial for revealing the degree to which precipitation is a critical factor to understand species distribution.