What is Biogeography?

analysis of spatial distributions

of organisms

is the study of the distributions

of organisms in space and time
 is the science that describes and
explains spatial patterns of
biodiversity.

Biogeographers study distributions

of organisms, both past and
present, and how related patterns of
environmental variation influence
the organisms.
Biogeography
can be studied with a focus on
ecological factors that shape the
distribution of organisms,

or with a focus on the historical

factors that have shaped the current
distributions.
 Some terms in biogeography
Biodiversity: the variability of species in a
region

Biome: the global scale community of plants

and animals, the largest subdivision of a
biosphere

Life Zones: regions of comparable latitude

and elevation containing similar plant species
Types of distributions of organisms.

Some species are restricted to a

certain region and are referred to as
endemic species.

Cosmopolitan species have a world

wide distribution. They may be
restricted to specific habitats, but
occur on most continents.
 Disjunct distributions where clearly
related species (or even the same
species) are found in different areas.

Ex. Marsupials are found in Australia

and South America.

Ratite birds (Ostrich,

Emu&Cassowary, Rhea) are found in
Africa, Australia and South America,
respectively.
 Historical causes of disjunct
biogeographic distributions
A. Dispersal
B. Vicariance
DISPERSAL
-Several types of dispersal mechanisms (e.g.,
corridors, filter bridges, sweepstakes;
according to Simpson)

-Ability to disperse varies greatly from group to

group (e.g., bats are the only mammals native
to New Zealand and Hawaii)
Mechanisms or modes of dispersal
Corridors between two regions on the
same land mass.

Filter bridges as selective connections

between two areas.

Sweepstakes as rare chance events (e.g.

muddyfooted duck).
 Dispersal
Dispersal hypotheses often associated with
arguments about centers of origin:

those regions with the greatest species (or

higher rank) diversity.

Greater diversity should be due to presence

in that region longer (more time for
speciation), hence should be the region
where the group originated and from which
dispersal events took place.
 Dispersal
South American land bridge when sea
levels dropped in the Pliocene the isthmus of
Panama rose and served as an avenue of
dispersal for terrestrial mammals

-(the "Great American Interchange" where

unique N.American mammals dispersed to S.
America and unique S. American mammals
moved north, 3 mil. years ago
 Dispersal
It is essential to realize that
dispersal has two components:

- the ability to move and the ability to

become established
 B. Vicariance
- splitting of a taxon's range

1. Hypothesize disjunct patterns result from

changes imposed on an originally
continuous distribution (e.g., by changes in
the distribution of land, by continental or
tectonic shifts, mountain-building, etc.)

For example, the breakup of

Gondwanaland in the Mesozoic can explain
the distribution of some ancient groups like
ratites and marsupials
2. Vicariant hypotheses also
include explaining disjunct
distributions by extinctions of
intervening populations
 Vicariance
3. Both dispersal and subsequent vicariance
may be required to explain a particular
pattern, but the pattern is vicariant if the
dispersal resulted in a continuous distribution

-(e.g., present distribution of Camelidae is

explained by vicariance because it was
originally a continuously-ranging group that
was fragmented by extinctions)
 Vicariance
- separation of species
Continental Drift as source of vicariance
events. Evidence for continental drift provided by
disjunct fossil specimens:

- Mesosaurus in South America and Africa.

Illustrates the space and time component of
biogeography since the strata reflect the same
time (old) but are widely separated in space.
Continents must have moved.
Plate tectonics/Continental drift
In 1912 Alfred Wegener (1880-1930)
noticed the same thing and proposed that
the continents were once compressed into
a single protocontinent which he called
Pangaea (meaning "all lands"),
 Evidence for historical
biogeography
A. Paleontology

1. If the fossil record is good for a taxon, it is very

useful for explaining distribution

2. In fact, it is sometimes critical in determining

when a group arose, and thus if its distribution could
have been fragmented by plate tectonics

3. That is, the past distribution of a group can

indicate whether its present distribution arose by
dispersal or by vicariance
Evidence for historical biogeography
B. Systematics (i.e., phylogeny)
1. Congruence between "area phylogeny" and organismal
phylogeny
a. If the phylogeny matches the geological /
geographical history, the distribution pattern was
probably due to vicariant events (i.e., vicariance makes a
good null hypothesis)

2. If the phylogeny is not congruent with the area

phylogeny, then dispersal generally needs to be invoked

3. Congruence among relationships of several taxa are

consistent with vicariance
Evidence for historical
biogeography
C. An example of the interplay between continental drift
and dispersal: the Great American Interchange

1. Biotic interchange occurs when two previously

separate faunas come into contact, often resulting in
enormous changes in biodiversity: e.g., 3 MYA when the
isthmus of Panama arose, connecting N. & S. America

2. Over the previous 50 Myr, many modern orders of

mammals originated in N. America, Africa and Europe,
but S. America did not have these forms, and evolved its
own distinctive fauna (e.g., forms of marsupials,
armadillos, sloths, anteaters, ungulates)
 Alfred Russell Wallace noticed that different
regions of the world had congruent patterns of
endemic species and he drew up six
biogeographic realms

Wallace worked primarily in Malaysian region

and had noticed a clear break between
Australian fauna and the fauna on the islands to
the northwest. This break has come to be known
as Wallace's line (also a line between the
Australian and the Asian biogeographic zones).

These patterns described long before

continental drift was an issue.
Wallaces line
Zoogeographic Provinces
 Zoogeographic provinces
Zoogeographic provinces are regions of distinctive fauna.

They are based on the taxonomic or phylogenetic

relationships of animals and not the adaptations of animals
to specific environments.

One way of looking at this is to think of the fauna of each

province as constituting the gene pool available to the forces
of natural selection to adapt animal life to the variety of
habitats present in the particular region.

The gene pool (i.e, the taxa represented) is different in each

province.
 Floristic Kingdoms

By: Ronald Good

Zoogeographic Provinces
 Floristic Kingdom

Zoogeographic
Kingdom
The Early Life Zones
 Life zones
The Life Zone concept was developed by C.
Hart Merriam in 1889 as a means of describing
areas with similar plant and
animal communities.

Merriam observed that the changes in these

communities with an increase in latitude at a
constant elevation are similar to the changes
seen with an increase in elevation at a constant
latitude.
Life Zones
C. Hart Merriam studied the relationship
between mean annual temperature and the
distribution of flora and fauna in the western
United States.

He recognized that similar zones or belts of

vegetation occurred with both increasing latitude
and increasing elevation. He called these belts
Life Zones.
 Life Zones
The life zones Merriam identified are most
applicable to western North America, being
developed on the San Francisco Peaks,
Arizona and Cascade Range of the
northwestern USA.

He tried to develop a system that is applicable

across the North American continent, but that
system is rarely referred to.
 Merriams Life zones
Annual
Elevation
Merriam's Life Preci
Modern Vegetation Zones Range
Zones 1891 pitatio
(feet)
n

11,500-
Arctic-Alpine Alpine Tundra 35"-40"
12,700

9,500-
Hudsonian Spruce-Fir or Subalpine Conifer Forest 30"-40"
11,500

Canadian Mixed Conifer Forest 8,000-9500 25"-30"

Transition Ponderosa Pine Forest 6000-8500 18"-26"

Pinyon-Juniper Woodland, Semi-Arid Grasslands,

Upper Sonoran 3500-6500 10"-20"
Semi-Arid Scrub

Lower Sonoran Mojave, Sonoran, or Chihuahuan Desert 100-3500 3

 The life zones that Merriam identified, along with
characteristic plants, are as follows:

Lower Sonoran (low, hot desert): Creosotebush, Joshua Tree

Upper Sonoran (desert steppe or chaparral): sagebrush,scrub
oak, Colorado Pinron, Utah Juniper
Transition (open woodlands): ponderosa pine
Canadian (fir forest): Rocky Moutain douglas fir, Quaking
aspen
Hudsonian (spruce forest): Engelmann spruce, Rocky
Mountains Bristlecone Pine
Arctic-Alpine (alpine meadows or tundra): Lichen, grass

The Canadian and Hudsonian life zones are commonly

combined into a Boreal life zone.
Merriams life zones in Arizona
Lower Sonoran Life Zone.
This vegetation of this life zone
corresponds with the hot deserts
of the southwestern United States
and northwest Mexico (the Mojave,
Sonoran, and Chihuahuan
deserts). Creosotebush (Larrea
tridentata) and other desert shrubs
and succulents occur.

Elevations from 100 ft to 3,500-

4,000 ft above sea level.

Total annual precipitation

averages 10 inches or less.
 Upper Sonoran Life Zone
. A number of communities are
characteristic of this zone that ranges from
3,500-4,000 ft to about 7,000 ft in
elevation.

These include a woodlands of evergreen

oaks (Quercus spp.), pinyon pine (Pinus
cembroides), and/or juniper (Juniperus
spp.); the Arizona chaparral of leathery-
leaved scrub oaks (e.g., Quercus emoryi),
manzanita (Arctostaphylos spp.), buckthorn
(Rhamnus spp.) and mountain mahogany
(Cercocarpus spp.); grassland; and Great
Basin desertscrub with its dominant
sagebrush (Artemsia tridentata).

Total annual precipitation varies from 8 to

slightly more than 20 inches.
 Transition Life Zone.

An open ponderosa pine

(Pinus ponderosa) forest
is characteristic at
elevations from 6,000 to
9,000 ft.

Total annual precipitation

ranges from 18 to 26
inches.
 Canadian Life Zone.
The fir forest of this life
zone is dominated by
Douglas fir (Pseudotsuga
menziesi). White fir (Abies
concolor) is also characteristic.

In some places pines (other

than Ponderosa) are also
common.
Deciduous broadleaf trees such as Gambel oak
(Quercus gambeli), and quaking aspen (Populus
tremuloides) can also be found here.

The elevation of the Canadian zone in Arizona

ranges from 7,500-8,000 ft to 9,000-9,500 ft; and
precipitation from 25 to 30 inches.
Hudsonian Life Zone.

A spruce-alpine fir community is

found in this life-zone. Common
species include Engelmann spruce
(Picea engelmanni), blue spruce (P.
glauca), Alpine fir (Abies lasiocarpa)
and bristlecone pine (Pinus aristata).

Trees decline in height from roughly

80 feet to dwarfed, gnarled
individuals deformed by the wind
near timberline (the Krummholz).

The Hudsonian zone varies from

8,000-9,000 ft. to 11,500 feet and
receives 30 to 35 inches of
precipitation a year.
Arctic-Alpine Life Zone.
Occurring above treeline, this life zone
corresponds to the Arctic tundra.

Two main habitat types are found on the

wind-swept peaks of the highest mountains:
a tundra rock field where lichens
predominate, and an alpine tundra-meadow
with herbs, grasses, sedges, rushes,
mosses, and lichens.

Tree line on Humphreys Peak, the highest

summit of the San Francisco Peaks (shown
to left), occurs at 11,000 to 11,400 ft.

Snow-covered from late November to early

April,

The summit area receives from 33 to 40

inches of precipitation a year.
Key points to Merriams Life zones
Merriam believed that climatic gradients,
especially temperature, largely determined what
type of vegetative community one may find in a
given location, and that these gradients were
largely a function of latitude and elevation.

As one moves upward in elevation temperatures

decrease and precipitation increases. His regional
life zones generally followed elevational belts.

At 5000 feet at the northern base of the San

Francisco Peaks a grassland community might be
found, but just a few thousand feet higher at 7000
feet stands a ponderosa pine forest.
Key points

Each of Merriam's life zones had one or more

dominant species helping delineate that
particular zone, e.g., ponderosa pine being the
primary indicator of his "Transition" zone.

Six of the zones defined by Merriam occur in

relatively close proximity on the southern
Colorado Plateau, from the hot depths of the
lower Grand Canyon to the windswept tundra
atop the San Francisco Peaks.

Merriam used his work on San Francisco

Mountain to extrapolate life zones for all of North
America.
Merriam's study area, the San Francisco Peaks in Arizona, rise
nearly 6000 feet above the pine forests of Flagstaff.
Photograph courtesy of USGS.
Grand Canyon
Life Zones in Mount Rainier
National Park
Life Zones in
Yellowstone
National Park

"There is no Northern
shore so bleak
No mountain top so
bare

There is no desert so
accursed. But God's
gems blossom there.
Charles Landes,
Ranger-Naturalist.
 Holdridge Life Zones
 Holdridge Life Zones

In 1947, Leslie Holdridge published a life zone

classification using indicators of:

1. mean annual biotemperature (logarithmic)

2. annual precipitation (logarithmic)
3. ratio of annual potential evapotranspiration to
mean total annual precipitation.
Holdridge
Rejecting the temperate latitude
bias of Merriam's life zones, L. R.
Holdridge devised a life zone
classification in 1947 more
appropriate to the complexities of
tropical vegetation.

Holdridge's zones are delineated

according to what he came to call
"biotemperature".
 Biotemperature

- refers to all temperatures above freezing,

with all temperatures below freezing adjusted
to 0 C.

The assumption was that, from the

perspective of plant physiology, there is no
real difference between 0 C and
temperatures less than zero: plants are
dormant
The life zones are thus defined first
according to a climatic variable--degrees
mean annual biotemperature (and not
according to degrees latitude or meters of
elevation).
 Holdridge Life Zone
Biotemperature refers to all temperatures above
freezing, with all temperatures below freezing adjusted to
0C, as plants are dormant at these temperatures.

Holdridge's system uses biotemperature first, rather than

the temperate latitude bias of Merriam's life zones, and
does not primarily use elevation.

The system is considered more appropriate to the

complexities of tropical vegetation than Merriam's
system.
Holdridge Life Zone
What are Biomes?
 What are biomes?
General concepts:

1. Many places on Earth share similar climatic

conditions despite being found in geographically
different areas.

2. Scientists call these major ecosystem types

biomes.

3. The geographical distribution of the various

biomes is controlled primarily by the climatic
variables precipitation and temperature.
4. Most of the classified biomes are identified by the dominant
plants found in their communities. i.e, grasslands are
dominated by a variety of annuals and perennials species of
grass, while deserts are occupied by plant species that
require very little water for survival or by plants that have
specific adaptations to conserve or acquire water.

5. The diversity of animal life and subdominant plant forms

characteristic of each biome is generally controlled by abiotic
environmental conditions.

i.e. the diversity of animal life and subdominant plant forms

characteristic of each biome is generally controlled by abiotic
environmental conditions
Distribution of the Earth's eight
major terrestrial biomes. Legend is
below. (Adapted from: H.J. de Blij
and P.O. Miller. 1996. Physical
Geography of the Global
Environment. John Wiley, New York.
Pp. 290.)
 Reading assignment:
Similarities and /or differences of the
worlds biomes

What are the biogeographic zones in the

Philippines