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Biogeography is the study of the distribution of biodiversity over space and time. Biodiversity is the variation of Life forms within a given Ecosystem, Biome or for the entire Earth. Space is the extent within which Matter is physically extended and objects and Events have positions relative to one another For other uses see Time (disambiguation Time is a component of a measuring system used to sequence events to compare the durations of It aims to reveal where organisms live, at what abundance, and why. [1]

The patterns of species distribution at this level can usually be explained through a combination of historical factors such as speciation, extinction, continental drift, glaciation (and associated variations in sea level, river routes, and so on), and river capture, in combination with the area and isolation of landmasses (geographic constraints) and available energy supplies. Speciation is the Evolutionary process by which new biological Species arise In Biology and Ecology, extinction is the cessation of existence of a Species or group of taxa. Continental drift is the movement of the Earth 's Continents relative to each other "Glacial" and "Glaciation" redirect here For the geological periods see Glacial period. Mean sea level (MSL is the average (mean height of the Sea, with reference to a suitable reference surface Stream capture, river capture, or stream piracy is a geomorphological phenomenon occurring when a stream or river Drainage system or

Contents

History

The scientific theory of biogeography grows out of the work of Alfred Russel Wallace and other early evolutionary scientists. Alfred Russel Wallace OM, FRS (8 January 1823 &ndash 7 November 1913 was an British naturalist, Explorer, Geographer Wallace studied the distribution of flora and fauna in the Malay Archipelago in the 19th century. The 19th century of the Common Era began on January 1, 1801 and ended on December 31, 1900, according to the Gregorian calendar With the exception of Wallace and a few others, prior to the publication of The Theory of Island Biogeography by Robert MacArthur and E.O. Wilson in 1967 [2] the field of biogeography was seen as a primarily historical one and as such the field was seen as a purely descriptive one. The Theory of Island Biogeography is a 1967 book by Edward O Wilson and Robert MacArthur which laid the foundations for the study of Island Robert Helmer MacArthur ( April 7, 1930 &ndash November 1, 1972) was an American ecologist who made a major impact on many Edward Osborne Wilson (born June 10, 1929) is an American biologist researcher ( Sociobiology, Biodiversity) theorist ( Year 1967 ( MCMLXVII) was a Common year starting on Sunday (link will display full calendar of the 1967 Gregorian calendar.

MacArthur and Wilson changed this perception, and showed that the species richness of an area could be predicted in terms of such factors as habitat area, immigration rate and extinction rate. This gave rise to an interest in island biogeography. Island biogeography is a field within Biogeography that attempts to establish and explain the factors that affect the Species richness of natural communities The application of island biogeography theory to habitat fragments spurred the development of the fields of conservation biology and landscape ecology. Habitat fragmentation is a process of environmental change important in Evolution and Conservation biology. "Conservation Biology" redirects here For the Scientific journal, see Conservation Biology (journal. Landscape ecology is the science and art of studying and improving the relationship between spatial pattern and ecological processes on a multitude of scales and organizational levels (Wu 2006 2008 [3]

Classic biogeography has been expanded by the development of molecular systematics, creating a new discipline known as phylogeography. Phylogeography is the study of the historical processes that may be responsible for the contemporary geographic distributions of individuals This development allowed scientists to test theories about the origin and dispersal of populations, such as island endemics. Endemism is the Ecological state of being unique to a place Endemic species are not naturally found elsewhere For example, while classic biogeographers were able to speculate about the origins of species in the Hawaiian Islands, phylogeography allows them to test theories of relatedness between these populations and putative source populations in Asia and North America. The Hawaiian Islands, once known as the Sandwich Islands, form an Archipelago of 19 Islands and Atolls numerous smaller

Palaeobiogeography

Paleobiogeography goes one step further to include paleogeographic data and considerations of plate tectonics. Palaeogeography (sometimes spelled paleogeography) is the study of what the Geography was in times past Plate tectonics (from Greek τέκτων tektōn "builder" or "mason" describes the large scale motions of Earth 's Lithosphere Using molecular analyses and corroborated by fossils, it has been possible to demonstrate that perching birds evolved first in the region of Australia or the adjacent Antarctic (which at that time lay somewhat further north and had a temperate climate). FOSSIL is a standard protocol for allowing serial communication for Telecommunications programs under the DOS Operating system. For a topic outline on this subject see List of basic Australia topics. From there, they spread to the other Gondwanan continents and Southeast Asia - the part of Laurasia then closest to their origin of dispersal - in the late Paleogene, before achieving a global distribution in the early Neogene (Jønsson & Fjeldså 2006). Gondwana (ɡɒnˈdwɑːnə originally Gondwanaland) was a southern Supercontinent that existed about 500 to 200 Ma ago Laurasia (lɔˈreɪʃiə lɔˈreɪʒə was a Supercontinent that most recently existed as a part of the split of the Pangaean supercontinent in the late Mesozoic The Paleogene (alternatively Palaeogene) is a geologic period and system that began 65 The Neogene is a geologic period and system starting 2303 ± 0 Not knowing the fact that at the time of dispersal, the Indian Ocean was much narrower than it is today, and that South America was closer to the Antarctic, one would be hard pressed to explain the presence of many "ancient" lineages of perching birds in Africa, as well as the mainly South American distribution of the suboscines. The Suborder of Passerine Birds Tyranni (the suboscines) includes about 1000 Species, the large majority of which are South

Classification

Biogeography is a synthetic science, related to geography, biology, soil science, geology, climatology, ecology and evolution. Geography (from Greek γεωγραφία - geografia) is the study of the Earth and its lands features inhabitants and phenomena Foundations of modern biology There are five unifying principles Soil science is the study of Soil as a Natural resource on the surface of the Earth including soil formation, classification and mapping Geology (from Greek γη gê, "earth" and λόγος Logos, "speech" lit Climatology (from Greek grc κλίμα klima, "region zone" and grc -λογία -logia) is the study of Climate, scientifically Ecology (from Greek grc οἶκος oikos, "house(hold" and grc -λογία -logia) is the scientific study of eVolution is the third Album by eLDee, it was due to be released in 2008

Some fundamentals in biogeography are

See also

Notes and References

  1. ^ Martiny JBH et al Microbial biogeography: putting microorganisms on the map Nature: FEBRUARY 2006 | VOLUME 4
  2. ^ This work expanded their 1963 paper on the same topic. eVolution is the third Album by eLDee, it was due to be released in 2008 In Biology and Ecology, extinction is the cessation of existence of a Species or group of taxa. Biological dispersal refers to those processes by which a Species maintains ecosystem Bird migration refers to the regular seasonal journeys undertaken by many species of Birds Bird movements include those made in response to changes in food availability An ecozone or biogeographic realm is the largest scale biogeographic division of the earth's surface based on the historic and evolutionary distribution patterns Ecological land classification is defined as being a cartographical delineation of distinct ecological areas identified by their Geology, Topography An ecoregion ( ecological region) sometimes called a bioregion, is an ecologically and geographically defined area smaller than a "realm" or " Macroecology is the subfield of Ecology that deals with the study of relationships between organisms and their environment at large spatial scales to characterise Phylogeography is the study of the historical processes that may be responsible for the contemporary geographic distributions of individuals Zoogeography is the branch of the science of Biogeography that is concerned with the geographic distribution of Animal Species and their attributes Phytogeography, also called geobotany is the branch of Biogeography that is concerned with the geographic distribution of Plant Species, or more generally A Phytochorion, in Phytogeography, is a geographic area with a relatively uniform composition of plant species Continental drift is the movement of the Earth 's Continents relative to each other Plate tectonics (from Greek τέκτων tektōn "builder" or "mason" describes the large scale motions of Earth 's Lithosphere Alfred Russel Wallace OM, FRS (8 January 1823 &ndash 7 November 1913 was an British naturalist, Explorer, Geographer Charles Robert Darwin (February 12 1809 &ndash April 19 1882 was an English naturalist, who realised and demonstrated that all Species of life Miklos Dezso Ferenc Udvardy (March 23 1919 – January 27 1998 was a biologist and biogeographer Anatomy Commentary on Anatomy in Avicenna's Canon Year 1963 ( MCMLXIII) was a Common year starting on Tuesday (link will display full calendar of the Gregorian calendar.
  3. ^ This applies to British and American academics; landscape ecology has a distinct genesis among European academics.

Further reading

External links

Major journals

Dictionary

biogeography

-noun

  1. (uncountable) The study of the geographical distribution of living things
  2. The geographical distribution of a particular living thing
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