Upper panel: stellar mass distribution of the four redshift bins. The stellar mass histograms for each sample are shown before (dark gray) and after (light gray) the quality control. The stellar mass distributions at the end of the data analysis are compared to the local stellar mass function from Baldry et al. (2012). The light blue histograms show the stellar mass intervals for which the samples are representative. Lower panel: absolute magnitude and stellar mass distribution of SDSS galaxies in the redshift range 0.07 <z< 0.1. The gray histogram corresponds to all the galaxies within the redshift range above the SDSS magnitude limit m_r< 17.7. The green histogram corresponds to the distribution of a volume-limited sample in the same redshift range and M_r< −20.62 (M_r limit at z ~ 0.1 for the SDSS). The M_r and stellar mass distributions were compared to the local luminosity function from Loveday et al. (2012; back circle line in right panel) and local stellar mass function from Baldry et al. (2012; blue circle line in left panel), respectively.