EVOLUTIONARY

BIOGEOGRAPHY

CHERYL LYN C. AYUSTE, LPT., MA.

 Biogeography
• the science that seeks to
explain the distribution of
species and higher taxa, on
the surface of the Earth.
Species have defined geographic
distributions.
Geographic distributions
of species
may be:
- endemic
- cosmopolitan
- disjunct
Endemic Distribution
• Limited in particular
area.
• Can be less or more
widespread.
Cosmopolitan Distribution
• species that are
found on all
continents of the
globe

• Pigeons are example of

cosmopolitan species. They can
be found in all continents.
Except where?
Disjunct Distribution
• not confined to a
single area, but are
distributed in more
than one region with
a gap between them
Key Concepts
• Biogeography aims to explain the distributions of the
higher taxa too.
• Short-term movements of individuals influence the
distributions of populations and species.
• Geological processes may control the biogeography of
higher taxa.
Key Concepts
• The distributions of the higher taxonomic levels are
more widespread than those of species.
• But, some taxonomically isolated higher groups, with
small numbers of species have localized distributions.
• Ex. Tuatara Sphenodon punctatus
 Six Main Biogeographical Regions

The six main faunal regions of the world, based on the distribution of
animals, and particularly of birds and mammals.
Six Main Biogeographical Regions

Main floral regions of the world, based on the

distribution of angiosperms (flowering plants).
Indexes of Similarity
• The division into regions was made according to the
degree of similarity between the lists of the species
living in the various places.
• Biogeographic similarity can be quantified by various
indexes of similarity. One of the simplest indexes is
Simpson’s index.
Simpson’s Index
• If N1 is the number of taxa in the area with the smaller
number of taxa, and N2 is the number of taxa in the
other area, and C is the number of taxa in common
between the two regions, then Simpson’s index of
similarity between the two areas is:

C/N1 x 100 (expressed in percentage)

Indexes of Similarity
What factors limit the geographic range
of a species?
• Distributional limits of a species are set by its
ecological attributes
• One way of understanding how ecological factors limit
a species’ distribution is in terms of a distinction.
• Fundamental Niche
• Realized Niche
Fundamental Niche
• A species will be able to tolerate a
certain range of physical factors -
temperature, humidity, and so on -
and could in theory live anywhere
these tolerance limits were satisfied.

Realized Niche
• Competing species will often
occupy part of this range and the
competition may be too strong
to permit both species to exist.
Historical Factors
• There are patterns in the distribution of species that probably
cannot be explained by ecological factors alone.
• There may be places where a species ecologically could be
present, but it is absent because it has never arrived - that is,
never migrated and established itself.
• Ex. The grey squirrel for instance has never reached islands off the British mainland and
consequently red squirrels can still be found on them.
Geographic distributions are influenced
by dispersal
Dispersal - A species’ range will be
changed if members of the species move
in space.
- Individual animals and plants move,
actively and passively, through space
both in order to seek out unoccupied
areas and in response to
environmental change.
Center of Origin - place where species
originated in one area and subsequently
dispersed to fill out its existing
distribution.
Various dispersal routes
Corridors- Two places are
joined by a corridor if they are
part of the same land mass.
Animals can move easily along a
corridor and any two place joined
by a corridor will have a high
degree of faunal similarity.
Various dispersal routes

Filter bridges - A filter bridge is a

more selective connection between two
places, and only some kinds of animals
will manage to pass over it.
Various dispersal routes
Sweepstakes routes -
are hazardous or accidental
dispersal mechanisms by which
animals move from place to
place.

The standard examples are

island hopping and natural
rafts.
Various dispersal routes
Example of Dispersal

Volcanic eruption of Krakatua

 Climate can affect Geographical
Distribution
• When the weather turns cool, animals
tend to migrate southwards.
• Example: Beetles
Climate can affect Geographical
Distribution
• The beetles thus act as
indicators of past
climates.
• Beetles do not show any
beech evolutionary changes in
their morphology when
the climate changes.
• They just move north
and south.
Climate can affect Geographical
Distribution
• Levels of diversity are constant
throughout the tropical region.
• The effect of an Ice Age is to
destroy much of this diversity and
leave only a few forest areas with
their diversity intact.
• As the climate warms up again,
these relatively small areas
maintain the greatest variation in
the region.
 Continental drift affected geographical
distribution

• The continents have

moved over the surface
of the globe through
geological time.
• The positions of the
main continents since
the Permian have been
reconstructed.
Continental drift affected geographical
distribution
 Vicariance Biogeography
• A main modern research programs that studies the relation
between biogeography and continental drift.
Dispersal vs Vicariance
What happens when two continents collide?
• Biotic interchanges - used
to describe the events that
take place when two
previously separate faunas
come into contact.
• Ex. Great American
Interchange
What happens when two continents collide?

Why did the North American

mammals prove superior?
• lived a more competitive life, in a
larger continent with more species,
than the isolated southern
mammals
• They prepared already in
competition
• They possessed advanced
armaments, probably not only in
intelligence, that enabled them to
over-run the southern mammals.
 Summary
• Species, and higher taxa, have geographic distributions, and biogeographers
aim to describe and explain them.

• The similarity of the flora or fauna of two regions can be measured by

indexes of similarity. The world can be divided up into six main faunal regions,
based on the distributions of bird and mammal species. Different taxa imply
different regional divisions.

• The ecological properties of a species set limits on where it can live.

• The distributions of species are influenced by historical accidents, of where

species happened to be at certain times, as well as their ecological tolerances.
 Summary
• The ranges of species may be altered by dispersal (when a species moves in space)
and by continental drift (when movement of the land subdivides the ranges of species).
The splitting of a species range is called vicariance.

• When climates cooled in the Ice Age, the ranges of species in the northern
hemisphere moved to the south.

• In the encounter between the North and South American faunas when the Isthmus of
Panama formed 3 million years ago, similar proportions of mammals initially moved in
both directions; but the immigrant north American mammals in the south proliferated
at a greater rate.
 The End.

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