#father of biogeography

[miscellaneous-geekery]

Happy 200th Birthday to the "father of biogeography".

(8 January 1823 - 7 November 1913)

[majorkphob]

One Shot Set Ups

I’ll keep it under the expand tag, but @floralprintshark and @probablygoodrpgideas inspired me to add some of my own one shot notes as a DM... If anyone else wants to add some of their stats/ideas, feel free :D 

One-shot Inspiration topics: 

- High level monster hunters (potentially all from the same guild, potentially from opposing guilds) need to clear out a island full of isolated monsters that have mutated to be incredibly powerful due to insular biogeography. 

- A group of pro-wrestlers have to go save their “Biggest Fan”, a young fanboy who missed their most recent “warrior-mania” event. They find in their investigations, that he has been kidnapped by local cultists, on a mission for the boy’s mother to bring him home. (Lots of chances for fun pro-wrestling NPCs and in the boxing ring battles)  

- A group of local super heroes are caught in a time loop, which not all of them remember (I ran this for kids on bikes system, and had them make a brains check to remember they were reliving their days). At noon on each day, an explosion rips through the city and kills everyone (which restarts the time loop). With the main epicenter being the Science Laboratories, somewhere in a secret basement facility, will the heroes be able to figure out what’s causing the explosion before the loops end? (the answer of course lies in aliens, as what comic book super hero story would be complete without them)

- The party is made up of exclusively warlocks- all of them with the same patron (their dad!). The half-siblings are all brought together after receiving a mysterious dream telling them their father was in danger, and he could only trust them to save him. Can they trust their father, Lord of Hell lies and deceit? Or is the true enemy coming from within the party, after all, who is to say they will all be rewarded by daddy dearest? (If you want any heals, you might let your players multiclass)

-Himbos and Bimbos only for this Baywatch miniseries, where a bunch of lifeguards fight against sea monsters and terrible currents to protect all of the beach goers. (I’m in the middle of running this, so I’ll expand on it later... )

-The Real Housewives of New Faerun band together post show productions (some due to a midlife crisis, others due to a recent divorce) as a popular adventuring party. On a shopping expedition post battle, they find a young woman dress shopping for her ex-husband’s wedding tomorrow. Little does the party know, but the wedding includes members of their own family (ex husbands, rival siblings, and old frenemies). 

[faseidl]

@caseidl has been publishing weekly articles since the start of the pandemic. While I've found most of them to be quite enlightening, entertaining or both, this one is my favorite so far. I'm sure this is partly because I knew her father--my father-in-law--very well and I learned his story, bit by bit, over many years of knowing him. But reading it here reminds me of what a wild ride he really had.

(via Escaping Insanity, My Father's Days on the Farm)

[elbiotipo]

Ok, I have a hot take and you're a biologist so... I posit that Alfred Russel Wallace was more of a chad than Charles Darwin because he didn't sit on his finished manuscript for two decades. Thoughts?

ahhh, Wallace... the Luigi of evolution...

Very little is discussed about him, not even in my university courses (TBH I had to read the wiki article for much of his info), which is weird because he was a really interesting character.

He was as well travelled as Darwin, and one could say he even had more field experience in the Amazon and Southeast Asia. He did amazing contributions to the understanding of biology beyond evolution including the distribution of species, he is basically the father of biogeography. He also was, unnusually for the time, an activist for social reform, and he experienced financial troubles all his life (he financed himself by selling specimens and doing editing work) so that might have influenced on his lack of time to publish unlike Darwin.

His contributions to the theory of natural selection are in my opinion very important, because he was one of the first scientists to actually consider the effect of the enviroment on species and evolution. In that way he’s one of the first ecologists, and he even talked about deforestation and enviromental degradation almost a century before it was recognized as a real problem.

I think Darwin got all the glory and recognition because of The Origin of Species which is a great book and it was a shock to Victorian society... while Wallace was back in Indonesia, far away from it all. It’s an injustice because he worked his ass off and Darwin got ALL the credit... I’m not saying the theory that Darwin “stole” from Wallace, because Wallace defended Darwin’s theory and book all his life, and he made contributions to science after that. But I think definitively, Wallace deserves some more recognition

It would be a really interesting thought experiment to imagine a world where Wallace published the theory of evolution by himself. I think it would take longer to be accepted, because whatever you can say about Darwin, he brought a lot of proof to the table with the Origin of Species and that book spread the theory of evolution to the wider public. Wallace also was very into the ‘spiritualist’ wave of Victorian times, and it influenced his scientific work... he believed that consciousness could not be explained by evolution, it had to be the work of a higher power. I wonder if that would have made evolutionary theory more palatable to religious authorities, but certainly less accepted on scientific circles. He had controversial opinions for sure.

[demilokvato4vr]

bio

EVOLUTION

five evidences of evolution

comparative anatomy - study of similarities and differences in the anatomy of different species || confirms that evolution is a remodeling process 

fossil record - fossils are preserved remnants left by organisms from the past. at least 10,000 years old. include: skeletons, shells, seeds, insects, etc. || fossils are form in the absence of oxygen || sedimentary rock appears in rock layers

rivers bring sediment to ocean, sedimentary rocks containing fossils form on the ocean floor 

overtime, fossils from each time period can leave residue 

sea levels change and seafloor are parched upward, sedimentary rocks ARE exposed. 

developmental biology - study of the process by which animals and plants (organisms) grow and develop || consists of: regeneration, asexual reproduction, growth of cells, etc 

biogeography - study of the geographic distribution of living things (plants and animals) || supports evolutionary theory

genetics - the study of heredity and the variation of inherited characteristics

homologous structures - organs or skeletal elements of animals that have a connection to a common ancestor. does not need to look similar OR function the same. || I.E. tails —> monkeys, cats, rats and other mammals have tails. they have functions for it whereas humans don’t. we don’t have a fully-formed tail, but we have a tailbone. there’s a common ancestor between mammals and humans

artificial selection - intentional breeding of plants or animals (selective breeding). selects traits that are already present in species. I.E. dogs, pigeons, cattle (ANIMALS!!) 

NATURAL SELECTION

Charles Darwin is the father of natural selection, The Voyage of the Beagle changed life. Role: Naturalist, Book is On the Origin of Species —> was about a struggle for existence

Three Basics of Natural Selection:

variation - individuals in a population vary

inheritance - inherited traits, accumulate traits that will allow you to compete better || I.E. offspring resembles parents

competition - capacity of organisms exceeds the food supply, creating competition for resources (SOTF)

Three Outcomes of Natural Selection: 

directional selection - shifts overall makeup (phenotype) of the population by favoring variants at one extreme

disruptive selection - favors variants at opposite extremes over intermediate individuals

stabilizing selection - picks out extreme variants from the population

Differences:

niche - specific area where organisms inhabit, the organism has a role and position in that environment.

habitat - place where an organism or a community of organisms lives

POPULATION GENETICS (Micro Evolution)

microevolution - evolutionary change within a species or small group of organisms, especially over a short period || I.E. pesticide resistance

mutation creates a new DNA sequence for a particular gene. || increases organism’s chance for survival, has significant effect on a population over long periods of time. without it, we’d be physically disabled in terms of survival.

SPECIES GENETICS (Macro Evolution)

macroevolution - major evolutionary (taxonomic groups) change overtime

species - group of living organisms that’s capable of breeding with other organisms, latin word meaning “kind” or “appearance”  

Pre-Zygotic and Post-Zygotic

Pre-Zygotic - backup mechanisms that operate should interspecies mating actually occur and produce hybrid zygotes

temporal isolation - mating or flowering occurs at different seasons or times of day

habitat isolation - populations live in different habitats and do not meet

behavioral isolation - little or no sexual attraction between males and females

mechanical isolation - structural differences prevent fertilization

gametic isolation - female and male gametes fail to unite in fertilization

Post-Zygotic - happens if interspecies mating occurs and results in hybrid zygotes

hybrid inviability - hybrid zygotes fail to develop or fail to reach sexual maturity

hybrid sterility - hybrids fail to produce functional gametes

I.E. Horse + Mule (Hybrid) —> = Donkey || not really functional gametes

2 Mechanisms of Speciations

allopatric - geological processes

population is separated geographically, and cannot mate with each other. population evolves separately.

can contribute to allopatric speciation

I.E. Darwin’s Finches: about 15 different species of finches on Galapagos. all came from the same common ancestor. genes have mutated and were designed to be more successful in their respective environments

sympatric - two groups of same species live in the same location, but evolve differently

occurs only with evolution of reproductive barriers between the isolated population and its parent population

I.E. bacteria can transfer genes to each other as well as transfer genes to offspring when they divide

Two Modes of Evolution 

convergent evolution - independent development of similar features in separate lineages of organisms (same features in organisms in different places) 

I.E. rhea, emu, ostrich || rhea comes from south america, emu comes from australia, ostrich comes from africa. different continents, yet similar habitats and pressures of natural selection

divergent evolution - separation of one species of organism into two (or more) species

millions of species have evolved

species often split when a new palace to live becomes available (called adaptive radiation)

Adaptive Radiation - take one species, put them in different environments, and they become modified on different ends

depending on the environment they’re in, organisms change overall to survive better in that environment 

[sciencemarchchicago]

Charles Darwin [left] & Alfred Wallace [right]

Charles Darwin, a naturalist and geologist, would have celebrated his 208th birthday yesterday, Februrary 12th. He is well known for his contribution to the theory of evolution and our understanding of natural selection, explaining the diversity of life on Earth.

Alfred Russel Wallace, a naturalist, explorer, geographer, anthropologist, and biologist independently formulated the theory of evolution. He and Charles Darwin co-authored on several publications concerning evolution by natural selection. He is considered the “father of biogeography”.

On April 22nd, 2017, we will march for science, and we will march for these men, whose legacies have inspired generations of scientists driven towards understanding the complexity and enigma of life. 

[ofgraveconcern]

‘Our imagination is struck only by what is great; but the lover of natural philosophy should reflect equally on little things” Alexander von Humboldt 1st June 1795, death of French anatomist and surgeon Pierre-Joseph Desault, opening an anatomy school in Paris in 1766, he became renowned for his surgical improvements, and his design and construction of surgical instruments. In 1791, he established his ‘Journal de chirurgerie’, which included his student’ most interesting cases. During the French Revolution, he was seized and imprisoned while giving an anatomical lecture in his theatre, released three days later, he returned to his anatomical study. On the 3st May 1795, he was summoned by Louis XVII’s prison guards to treat the young boy, whose father had been guillotined two years previously, he died mysteriously however the following day, with rumor claiming that he had been poisoned. These were dismissed during his autopsy which was carried out by his student Xavier Bichat, friend of the French explorer and botanist Aimé Bonpland. 5th June 1799, Prussian polymath, geographer, naturalist, and explorer Alexander von Humboldt, and French explorer and botanist Aimé Bonpland; after failing to gain permission to join Napoleon Bonaparte’s, military and scientific invasion of Egypt, set sail for South America to begin their five year scientific study. The journey provides Humboldt with his foundation for the field of biogeography, and he became one of the first people to propose that South America and Africa were once part of the same continent. Humboldt’s description of the journey was published as ‘Kosmos’ in an enormous set of volumes over 21 years. (Continued in the comments) #anatomical #anatomicalart #historyofanatomy #anatomy #anatomydrawing #anatomicaltheatre #18thcentury #18thcenturyhistory #tarot #tarotcards #darktarot #centaurs #tarotillustration #tarotillustrations #tarotart #tarotartist #historicalillustration #frenchrevolution #anatomyschool #naturalist #naturalists #naturalistsketchbook #alexandervonhumboldt #alexandervonhumboldt2 #napoleonbonaparte #napoleónbonaparte #gothictales #kosmos #historyofscience #tarothistory https://www.instagram.com/p/CPtFGVnnzBT/?utm_medium=tumblr

[littlebettysboutique]

#wildlifewednesday nature is amazing, raw, ingenious, check this little guy! Mototi octopus having a drift to check out the light.

Today would also be the 197th birthday of Alfred Russell Wallace, British naturalist, explorer, geographer, anthropologist, biologist and illustrator, also referred to as the 'father of biogeography' his work is many things, he's worth a Google. @operation_wallacea chose his name and they continue his legacy with amazing research and educational programmes, also well worth checking out.

#epic #diving #wallaceline #malayarchipelago #octopus #indonesia #scubadiving #divestagram #scuba #science #explore

https://www.instagram.com/p/B7EjzekhE9z/?igshid=145ucf2ndfmno

[next-age-blog1]

Permaculture is a foundational concept in sustainable farming and design today. Bill Mollison, often referred to as the "father of permaculture," led an unconventional life. He dropped out of school at 15 to help with the family bakery, and also worked as a shark fisherman, seaman, forester, mill-worker, trapper, snarer, tractor driver, naturalist, cattle runner and security bouncer before he found his ultimate contribution to the world. . He received a degree in biogeography and became a professor at the University of Tasmania where he developed the new field of Environmental Psychology. At this stage he could have comfortably lived out his tenure, but he felt "increasingly trapped by traditional academia and sought instead to marry his studies in psychology with the natural world." . Mollison writes: "After many years as a scientist...I began to protest against the political and industrial systems I saw were killing us and the world around us. But I soon decided that it was no good persisting with opposition that in the end achieved nothing. I withdrew from society for two years; I did not want to oppose anything ever again and waste time. I wanted to come back only with something very positive, something that would allow us all to exist without the wholesale collapse of biological systems." . "Abandoning a secure academic tenure at the age of fifty, Bill devoted all his energies to furthering the system of permaculture and spreading the idea and principles worldwide. In partnership with student David Holmgren, Mollison started to sketch out the origins of what we now know as permaculture...they introduced concepts from other ecological pioneers, indigenous cultures and peasant farmers, combining them with a keen observation of the natural world." . In a culture obsessed with youth, we can forget that sometimes truly big ideas don’t congeal until later in life- the result of a distillation process of all our prior experiences. So allow yourself a wide berth to explore, experiment, try on different hats and make vital mistakes, because it all will ultimately inform your own path and contribution. . First image from Mollison's Permaculture: A Designer's Manual.

[royalalbertamuseumblog]

The RAM reading list – science literature as recommended by RAM staff

By: RAM Staff

In honour of National Science Reading Day (20 September) and Science Literacy Week (18-24 September), we asked our staff of curators, researchers, science enthusiasts, and history buffs to recommend some of their favourite science-themed reads. We hope this list inspires you to find your next great read - enjoy!  

“E=MC2: A Biography of the World’s Most Famous Equation” by David Bodanis

(This book was recommended by two staff members - so you know it’s good!)

“E=MC2: A Biography of the World’s Most Famous Equation” by David Bodanis is a great book for the non-scientists like me. The author takes each part of the equation (including the equal sign) and provides a historical review of the scientist behind the symbol. Very engaging.

-  Lucie Heins, Assitant Curator, Western Canadian History

Not really science per se, as much history as science; but the history of the science of the component parts of the famous equation.

Fascinating stuff!

Breaks down the component parts and explains where the ideas behind the theories of the independent parts (e.g.: mass). It is done in such a manner that anyone can understand it, as it is not written by a physicist or scientist, rather a more generalist writer, albeit with a (formal) science and economics background.

-  Sean Moir, Collections Manager

Elephant Memories: Thirteen Years in the Life of an Elephant Family by Cynthia Moss

One book that still resonates with me is “Elephant Memories: Thirteen Years in the Life of an Elephant Family” by Cynthia J. Moss. I read this book shortly after I began working as a natural history interpreter at The Mammoth Site of Hot Springs, SD.  The book helped me develop a much greater appreciation for the remains of the extinct elephants that I walked past every day.  It helped shape my mental image of how mammoths might have lived their lives. It’s not the only reason that elephants and mammoths interest me, but it was definitely an influential piece in shaping my fascination with them.

-  Chris Jass, Curator of Quaternary Palaeontology

Honk, Honk, Goose (Canada Geese Start a Family): April Pulley Sayre

This is a fantastic read for children to start learning about birds during breeding season. It presents facts about how Canada Geese find their partner, mate and take care of their goslings. It is a fun interpretation, where children are encouraged to make sounds like a father goose protecting its family would for example. It also provides context for children as to why some birds may make noises or chase you away (e.g., have you ever been dive-bombed by an American Robin?) during breeding season. This can help alleviate your child’s fear of birds, as they come to the understanding that they are protecting their partner and family and to stay clear of their nest.

-  Diana Tirlea, Assistant Curator, Quaternary Environments

Next Time You See A Maple Seed: Emily Morgan

This is a fantastic book, which not only teaches you about a maple seed (a samara) but also engages the readers by getting them to ask questions. Questions like, where does this samara come from? What is a samara? What will happen to the samara once it lands on the ground? It has brilliant images of not only seeds and the plants, but also children interacting with the samaras. It also engages children by asking them to try out some activities and to explore their environment (outside) by looking and asking questions about what they see and find; whether it be big or small.

-  Diana Tirlea, Assistant Curator, Quaternary Environments 

  Only the Cat Saw: Ashley Wolff

This book is all about observation, which is one of the key elements to new scientific discoveries, part of the development of questions (hypothesis) and record-keeping during research. This book is geared towards young children. It provides lovely two-page illustrations, without text, to see what “only the cat saw”, as the cat adventures out during the evening while the whole family is getting ready for bed and/or sleeping. Many of the elements which “only the cat saw” are nature-based, such as a thunderstorm or an owl catching a mouse. It is a fantastic book, all about observation and discovering what you can see if you pay attention to details!

 -  Diana Tirlea, Assistant Curator, Quaternary Environments

The Science of War: Canadian Scientists and Allied Military Technology” by Donald Avery.  

While Anthony, our curator of Military and Political History, hasn’t had a chance to read this book yet (it’s on his list), he wanted to, in his words, “put a plugin for the real science… you know… Social Science!”  

-  Anthony Worman, Curator of Military and Political History

RadioLab (Podcast) by  Jad Abumrad and Robert Krulwich

While not a book, RadioLab is the perfect way to introduce yourself to the latest in scientific advancements and theories, in an engaging and entertaining way, that in no way reminds you of a high school science class. In fact, it took me a couple of episodes to realize that it’s a “science podcast” at all, so enthralled I was in the topics they selected and their narration and storytelling techniques.  If you prefer a book, you can find a complete list of science-themed literature that has inspired their episodes here: http://radiolabreads.tumblr.com/

- Nathalie Batres, Marketing Officer      

Non-fiction Recommendations by our curator of Quaternary Environments, Dr. Alwynne Beaudoin

Your Inner Fish: A Journey into the 3.5-Billion-Year History of the Human Body. By: Neil Shubin (2008) 

Palaeontologist Neil Shubin looks at body structures - hands, arms and legs, teeth, structures for smelling, seeing and hearing - and shows how their development is reflected in the fossil record. Elements of the human body plan are ancient and are recorded in some of the earliest fossils with bodies (as opposed to single-celled or multicelled organisms). He starts with the discovery of the Tiktaalik on Ellesmere Island, a fossil of a creature intermediate between fish and early land-living tetrapods. Shubin shows how palaeontology contributes to our understanding of human growth and development. He finishes his survey by examining how some human frailties (such as hernias and hiccups) may have a link to our genetic past, and thereby makes a good case for the continuing value of palaeontology. Shubin packs a good deal of information into a deceptively simple and readable format.

 The Crystal Desert: Summers in Antarctica. Houghton Mifflin Books. By: David G. Campbell (1992)

This is one of my all-time favourite books. It’s a meditation on fieldwork and science. It won several literary awards, an indication of its fine writing. Campbell focuses on his biological fieldwork on King George Island, one of the South Shetland Islands off the Antarctic Peninsula. He spent three austral summers there. Campbell characterizes this as the 'banana belt' of Antarctica, yet it is still a place where life hangs on a knife-edge. He describes the flora and fauna of the island, and discusses the discovery and use of the island by whalers, hunters, explorers, and, more recently, tourists. He examines the human impact on this remote area, and describes the difficulties of fieldwork and study in such an unforgiving landscape. Campbell sets his studies into the broader context of the human and natural history of one of the most remote and yet wildest places on earth.

The Song of the Dodo. Scribners, New York. By: David Quammen (1996) 

Quammen is one of the best science writers around. He is a very fine prose stylist and his writing is always a true pleasure to read. In this book, he examines the ideas of island biogeography, starting with the life and career of Alfred Russel Wallace and finishing with modern conservation dilemmas. Along the way, he visits many of the world's major islands, including the Malay Archipelago, the Galapagos, the Hawaiian Islands, Mauritius, Madagascar, and Guam. All of them have vulnerable plants and wildlife. He examines scientific ideas about conservation and the reasons for island endemism. He includes interviews with researchers and accounts by scientists of their findings and presents different sides of the conservation debate.

 Jacquard's Web: How a Hand-loom Led to the Birth of the Information Age. By: James Essinger (2004)

Computers and information technology permeate modern life and every aspect of scientific endeavour, so it is interesting to trace their development. Essinger starts with the invention of the punched card by Jacquard to speed up silk-weaving in the early 19th century. He continues by tracing the use of punched cards as controllers by Babbage in his design for his analytical engine, and then by Herman Hollerith in his design for a tabulating machine for the 1890 US census. The account moves into the 20th century and the development of the electronic computer, principally by IBM, during and after WWII. The demise of the punch card occurred by 1984, although Essinger points out that it is still used for a few applications. Indeed, I vividly remember using punch cards as a grad student in the late 1970s and early 1980s.

A Mathematician Reads the Newspaper. By: John Allen Paulos (1995) 

In a series of short pithy essays, Paulos examines some of the numerical and statistical absurdities and assumptions bandied about in newspaper articles. Although the idea of reading a newspaper may seem rather quaint today, the idea of reading news stories is not, and much of what Paulos has to say about critical thinking and numeracy is as relevant today as it was in 1995. Fear not, you don’t need math skills to read and enjoy this book, just a willingness to look carefully at what you read in the media. In an age when “fake news” is a thing, Paulos’ call for numerical literacy is even more important. His take-home message is not to become blinded by the apparent authority of numbers and statistics but to examine what assumptions underpin the way in which information is presented. Good advice for everyone!

Fiction Recommendations by Dr. Alwynne Beaudoin

The Martian. By: Andy Weir (2011) 

Mark Watney is stranded on Mars after his crewmates leave because of a massive storm and because they think he is dead. Fortunately, he has a sense of humour as well as science smarts, so it’s a pleasure to follow his story through his diary. He has to exert all his science and technical engineering skills to work through many practical challenges, hoping to survive until the next Mars landing four years’ hence. His first problem, extending his food supplies, he tackles by growing potatoes using human waste as a fertilizer. Then he re-establishes communication with Earth by finding Pathfinder (an old Rover module) and getting it working. The NASA scientists, once they realize he's alive, scramble to devise rescue plans and avoid a PR disaster. Here, we see the scientist as hero and contrast lone science (Mark) and team science (NASA). Not only for nerds, this is a terrific read!

We hope you enjoyed the list and be sure to share with us your own favourite science-themed book by tagging us on social media! 

[gotojobin]

#Sasquatch #Bigfoot One of the most contested incidents involves a cast of one of the enormous footprints Jerry Crew and other workers had been seeing at an isolated work site in Bluff Creek, California. He took it to a newspaper office and the story and photo garnered international attention through being picked up by the Associated Press (this is also the source of the name bigfoot, coined by an editor in response to the size of the footprint cast).[1] Crew's overseer at the site was Wilbur L. Wallace, brother of Raymond L. Wallace. Years after the track casts were made, Ray Wallace became involved in Bigfoot "research" and made various outlandish claims. Shortly after Wallace's death, his children claimed that he was the "father of Bigfoot," and that Ray had faked the tracks seen by Jerry Crew in 1958. In 1978, the University of British Columbia hosted a symposium, entitled Anthropology of the Unknown: Sasquatch and Similar Phenomena, a Conference on Humanoid Monsters (abstracts collected in Wasson's 1979 volume). Pyle wrote that the conference "brought together twenty professors in various fields, along with several serious laymen, to consider the mythology, ethnology, ecology,biogeography, physiology, psychology, historyand sociology of the subject. All took it seriously, and while few, if any, accepted the existence of Sasquatch outright, they jointly concluded 'that there are not reasonable grounds to dismiss all the evidence as misinterpretation or hoax'."

[emmagreen1220-blog]

New Post has been published on Biology Dictionary

New Post has been published on https://biologydictionary.net/biogeography-examples/

Biogeography Examples

Biogeography is the study of the distribution of species on Earth in the past and present, and how the distribution is effected by abiotic factors such as habitat, climate and terrain. The field is divided into three disciplines of biogeography: historical, ecological and conservation.

Historical biogeography is also called paleobiogeography and studies species distribution now as it relates to distribution in the past. Ecological biogeography examines the distribution of species in relation to biotic and abiotic factors in the environment. Finally, conservation biogeography is a relatively new field of biogeography which combines the study of conservation with biogeography to try and anticipate future conditions so that planning can be done to protect the biodiversity on Earth.

Examples of Biogeography

Australia

The continent of Australia provides excellent examples of how the isolation of land masses effects the distribution of species. About 75% of all the species of plants and animals in Australia are unique to that continent. The kangaroo, koala bear and wallaby are found only in Australia and are the result of the breakup and continental drift of the landmass Pangea that began about 200 million years ago. Also, the isolation of Australia has resulted in an abundance of marsupials and a scarcity of mammals.

The Influence of Mountains, Valleys and Rivers

British naturalist and explorer Alfred Russel Wallace traveled to the Amazon Basin and the Malay Archipelago in the mid-1800’s to study how and why the flora and fauna were distributed. He had a particular interest in how the presence and absence of natural geographic barriers like rivers, valleys and mountains had on the distribution of the species of butterflies and birds. He found that because of the separation created by the Amazon river, valleys and mountains, closely related species were often found on either side of these barriers. In addition, he found stark differences in the species found on either side of what came to be called the Wallace Line. Because of his dedication and the extensive knowledge obtained through his work, Wallace is known as the Father of Biogeography.

The Influence of Climate

Desert areas on Earth contain plants and animals that are adapted to hot and dry climate conditions. Plants like cactuses have thick fleshy leaves and waxy coatings that help them retain water and animals like the camel store fat in the humps on their backs. This fat acts not only as an insulator and food storage area, but also a water reservoir that camels can access through beta oxidation of the stored fat. If a desert species tries to expand into an area with a different climate, it will not survive. An example of this is shown by no alligators living in central North America. Climate is an abiotic factor that effects the distribution of alligators on the planet.

The image above shows the Wallace Line, named after Alfred Russel Wallace, a mid-19th-century British naturalist and explorer who discovered stark differences in the species found on either side of the line. The line falls on the continental shelf between Asia and Australia that began to separate about 50 million years ago.

References

Alfred Russel Wallace. (n.d.). In Wikipedia. Retrieved July 3, 2017 from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alfred_Russel_Wallace

Biogeography. (3 July, 2017). In Encyclopedia.Com Online. Retrieved from http://www.encyclopedia.com/earth-and-environment/geology-and-oceanography/geology-and-oceanography/biogeography

[emmagreen1220-blog]

New Post has been published on Biology Dictionary

New Post has been published on https://biologydictionary.net/island-biogeography/

Island Biogeography

Island Biogeography Definition

Island biogeography (also called insular biogeography) provides some of the best evidence in support of natural selection and the theory of evolution. The term describes an ecosystem that is isolated by being surrounded by different ecosystems. For the purposes of this theory, an island is defined as more than just a piece of land surrounded by water. It includes mountain peaks, a lake surrounded by a desert, a patch of woodland or even a national park. The theory provides a model to explain the richness and uniqueness of species, both plants and animals, found in an isolated area.

The two events that determine how many species are found in an isolated ecosystem are immigration and extinction. Research as shown that how big the island is and how far it is from the mainland have a great influence on the number (richness) of species that are found there (see image below). Once species have established themselves on an island, the rate at which they will go extinct depends on the size of the island, with there being less likelihood of extinction on larger islands. This is called the species-area relationship. This relationship is not just observable, but it can also be predicted mathematically. By the same theory, the farther an island is from the mainland, the fewer species it tends to have. This is referred to as the species-distance relationship.

The image above shows how the size of an island and its distance from the mainland interact with immigration (colonization, the orange lines) and extinction events (green lines) to influence the richness of species.

Alfred Russel Wallace, the Father of Biogeography

In the mid-19th century, the British naturalist and explorer Alfred Russel Wallace traveled to the Amazon Basin and the Malay Archipelago (located between China and Australia) to build on the work of Charles Darwin and study how and why the flora and fauna were distributed. He paid particular attention to the distributions of butterflies and birds in relation to the presence and absence of natural geographic barriers like rivers, valleys and mountains. Wallace’s findings contributed significant knowledge to the field of biogeography, including his discovery of the sharp contrasting differences in the animals on either side of what is now the Wallace Line, named to acknowledge the importance of his work.

Island Biogeography Examples

Australia

Marsupials like the kangaroo and the wallaby are only found in Australia. If marsupials were found all over the world, then that would mean they did not come into existence by means of natural selection and the evolutionary process. Additional evidence for this evolutionary model is shown by the fact that about 75% of the plant and mammal species in Australia are found only on that continent. There are some exceptions, however, due to continental drift when animals were able to wander around large land masses before they separated.

The Galapagos and Cape Verde Islands

When he visited the Galapagos and Cape Verde Islands in 1835, Charles Darwin encountered species that are found nowhere else on Earth like the Galapagos Tortoise, the Flightless Cormorant, the Blue-footed Boobie and, of course, the famous Darwin’s Finches. But it’s not just the fact that these isolated environments gave rise to unique species—each island also had its own unique species. In addition, Darwin noted at the time that none of the species from these islands were found in similar climates anywhere in the world. Darwin wondered why there were distinct species on each of the islands when the climates are virtually identical, and why there appeared to be closely related species on the nearest mainland continent. These observations led to his hypothesis (at the time) that the islands had broken off separately from the main continent sometime in the distant past, resulting in two identical populations that evolved separately over time.

References

Adaptive Radiation. (2017, June 29). In New World Encyclopedia. Retrieved from http://www.newworldencyclopedia.org/entry/Adaptive_radiation

Biogeography. (n.d.). In Wikipedia. Retrieved June 29, 2017 from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Biogeography

Insular biogeography. (n.d.). In Wikipedia. Retrieved June 29, 2017 from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Insular_biogeography