Chorology

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. The examination of how various organisms are distributed across different geographic regions and ecological settings
2. A scientific discipline concerned with the patterns and factors influencing the distribution of species in particular locations
3. The scientific analysis of where organisms occur geographically and the environmental influences on this distribution

Etymology: "Chorology" is built from two parts of Greek origin. The first, "choro-", comes from Greek "chōros", meaning a place, region or country, the same root that gives English words like "chorography", the detailed description of a region. The second, "-logy", comes from Greek "logos", meaning word, speech or study, and is the familiar suffix found in "biology" and "geology". Put together, the term literally means the study of places or regions. In its modern scientific sense it names the branch of biogeography concerned with the spatial distribution of organisms, asking why a species is found in one area and not another. The word is therefore a fairly transparent technical coinage, built from classical elements to name a relatively modern scientific field rather than a term inherited from ancient Greek usage.