A range with one or more gaps in it is described as discontinuous. A species' range can also become discontinuous because of natural causes, such as changes in climate. Volcanoes, forest fires, the loss or the creation of lakes or rivers, and avalanches are just a few of the naturally occurring events that make part of a range unsuitable or no longer available to the species. If the species' range continues to shrink and the range becomes broken into smaller and smaller segments, the species' range is said to be scattered. If the range should shrink until there is only one area or just a few small, isolated areas left, the range is said to be endemic.
Isolated islands are famous for their endemic plants and animals.