User talk:Paigehenning

Welcome to Wikimedia Commons, Paigehenning!

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-- Wikimedia Commons Welcome (talk) 19:02, 29 October 2020 (UTC)

Species distribution maps

Hi, maps that highlight an entire country because a species is endemic there, are in my opinion profoundly useless: Yes, the Kamchatka Bear is endemic in Kamchatka, but that doesn't make him endemic in all of Russia, including Kaliningrad. And again in cases where the Siberian tiger also occurs in China, there is no need to mark the entirety of China and Russia in orange and claim it as the natural habitat of the Siberian tiger: Animals and plants don't believe in national borders, they distribute along habitats. If there is no specific area you can show in a map, it is better to just list the countries where a species occurs, without making maps that just produce false statements. --Enyavar (talk) 13:23, 6 December 2023 (UTC)

Sorry you feel that way and felt the need to share your opinion!

As a scientist, I understand that species "do not care about borders", however, the template I used to generate said maps was available readily through Wikipedia, easily edited, and is used to generally describe where species reside to provide readers with a quick general understanding of the continent / location.

Most of the species I have generated maps for are extremely rare, generally residing in extremely niche locations or are represented by a single population. I ensure that their pages reflect where they are located, but I do not have the time, nor skills, to draw detailed maps of their locations. If you believe you have the time to look at GPS coordinates for plant species that are represented by single or less than 10 populations, please do feel free to generate these maps you desire. If you don't feel you have the time, maybe the descriptions of their locations, which I have provided on their pages, is enough for a more interested reader to understand their location :)

I believe representation of species within borders is something that's actually important beyond giving readers a general idea as to where the plant is as research is defined by borders (something I understand as a researcher who works internationally). It can be extremely difficult to obtain plant material (dead or alive) from different countries due to limitations by the government of said countries. Paigehenning (talk) 15:28, 6 December 2023 (UTC)