BIOGEOGRAPHY

JUNNASIR M. SAKILAN, PHD

BIOGEOGRAPHY

• The study of living things in space and time

• A. Why are there so many living creatures?
• B. Why are they distributed the way they are?
• C. Have they always occupied their current
distribution patterns?
• D. Is the present activity of human affecting these
patterns, if so what are the prospects for the future?
BIOGEOGRAPHY

• Multidisciplinary Science with a long History

• Evolutionary Biology,
• Systematics
• Ecology
• Earth Sciences
BIOGEOGRAPHY AND CREATION
BIOGEOGRAPHY AND CREATION

• Biogeography
Biological Engine of EVOLUTION

Geological Engine of PLATE TECTONICS

A SWEDISH NATURALIST

Carolus Linnaeus (1735)

- Name and Described the animals and
plants of the world
- Recorded in what type of environment
each species is found
- Did not incorporate these observations
into different regions or continents
BUFFON THE VISIONARY

Georges Buffon (1761)

 Histoire Naturelle
Noted faunistic differences and Georges de Buffon ca. 1760

similarities between regions of

similar climate (“Buffon’s Law”)
Fossils, extinction, changes in
species, climate and geography Map of Artic from Histoire Naturelle
BUFFON THE VISIONARY

Climate and even the Nature of species were not fixed,

but changeable, and to suggests that continents might
move laterally and seas encroach upon them
Observations between mammals of two regions were
soon extended to birds, reptiles, insects and plants
BUFFON’S LAW
CONTINUING EXPLORATION

Alexander von Humboldt

Humboldt (1805)
Plant zonation, associations and
biomes
Candolle (1820)
Coined term ‘endemic’
Defined ca. 20 regions of endemism
Augustin Pyrame de Candolle
 Distribution of life today

Geographical regions have characteristic biotas.

Similar/closely related taxa tend to be closer together than
more distantly related groups.
Similar environments are found in different areas BUT the
same species may not be found in all places where they
could be!
Not closely related species in similar environments may
appear similar due to convergence.
How else might we explain this
distribution without biogeography
principles??

What distributions would we expect

to see WITHOUT macroevolution??
World’s Biomes
 What broad distribution
patterns do we actually see?
DISTINCT FAUNAS ACROSS SIMILAR ENVIRONMENTS
Wallace’s Faunal Regions
DISTINCT FLORAS ACROSSGood’s
SIMILAR ENVIRONMENTS
Floristic Regions
Charles Darwin 1809-1882
THE ORIGIN OF SPECIES

1. Regions with identical climate have different floras and

faunas (Buffon’s Law).
2. Geographic barriers closely associated with breaks
between taxonomic groups.
3. Within a region, organisms are often closely related
even across environmental gradients and lower
taxonomic groups often show narrower distributions
than higher.
1. SIMILAR CLIMATE, DIFFERENT TAXA

Cactaceae in North American deserts

Euphorbiaceae in southern African deserts

Courtesy of K.J. Sytsma

Geographic Barriers and Distinct Biota
More similar marine biota

Very different marine biota

3. Closely Related Taxa in Close Proximity

Wallace’s Line
CHARLES DARWIN - MECHANISM
• Any pair of animals or plants produces far more offspring
are not identical to one another, but vary slightly in their
characteristics
• The offspring that have these favourable characteristics
will then have natural advantage in the competition of life,
and will tend to survive
• Will lead to the persistence of theses favourable traits into
the next generation
GEOLOGICAL ENGINE

• Inadequate to explain many of the facts of the

world biogeography, especially some that
were revealed by the rapidly expanding
knowledge of patterns of distribution in the
past
• Dispersal between islands or otherwise
isolated locations today
JOSEPH HOOKER (BOTANIST)

• Similarities between the flora and fauna

of the separate southern continents of
India could only be explained by their
having once been connected
• Glossopteris – existed in Africa, Australia,
Antarctica, South America and even India
ALFRED WEGENER (METEREOLOGIST)

• Present his theory of the

Continental Drift (1912)
• Suggested that all of today’s
continent had originally been part
of a single supercontinent Pangaea
PLATE TECTONICS…ENTER ALFRED WEGENER
Wegener relied heavily on biogeographical evidence for defending his
controversial continental drift theory

Glossopteris Permian – “fern”

Mesosaurus – Freshwater Permian Reptile

Cynognathus – Triassic land reptile

Lystrosaurus – Triassic land reptile

Courtesy of K.J. Sytsma

Species and Areas: History of Ideas
Two important scientific advances in the mid 20th century
have revolutionized historical biogeography

1. Acceptance of plate tectonics

Up until the 1960s, most persons considered the
earth's crust to be fixed. Finally, in the 1960s the
geological evidence was at hand that made
continental drift irrefutable.

2. Development of new phylogenetic methods

Willi Hennig (1950) introduced the modern concepts of
phylogenetic theory (first published in 1956). Using this
methodology, hypotheses of historical lineages of
species could be reconstructed.

Courtesy of K.J. Sytsma

THANK YOU!