1. Biogeography
Chapter 1

2. Diversity on the Earth
Between 5 – 50 million species of plants, animals, and microbes on the Earth
Less than 2 million have been formally described

3. Biogeography
Biogeography is the science that attempts to document and understand spatial patterns of biodiversity.
It is the study of the distribution of organisms, both past and present, and of related patterns of variation over the Earth in the numbers and kinds of living things.

4. Questions Asked by Biogeographers
Fundamental Biogeographic Question: How are organisms distributed, over the surface of the Earth and over the history of the Earth?
Interested in more process based issues of how natural systems function rather than simple distribution.

5. My Questions in Biogeography
What role does disturbance play in succession?
What drives biodiversity?
How will the natural systems react to global climatic and environmental change?
What is necessary for ecosystem health?
Starts dealing with conservation biology issues and rebuilding and maintaining ecosystems and biodiversity.

6. Specializations in Biogeography
Phytogeography – The study of plants
Zoogeography – The study of animals
Microbial Biogeography – Little Studied

7. Approaches to Biogeography
Historical Biogeography – Reconstruct the origins, dispersal, and extinctions of taxa and biotas
Ecological Biogeography – Accounts for the present distributions in terms of interactions between organisms and their physical and biotic environments
Paleoecology – Bridges the gap between these two fields, investigating the relationships between communities (abundance, distribution, and diversity of species) and abiotic conditions (climate, soils, water quality, etc.).
Analytical Biogeographers - Develop general mathematical rules of how geography effects the evolution and distribution of plants and animals
Conservation Biogeography - Work on the protection and restoration of natural environments

8. Methods of Biogeographers
Field Based
Descriptive – Document ranges of species
Process Driven – Examine the processes of a system
Conceptual – Using theoretical models
Experimental – Manipulating the system to test hypotheses

9. Relationship to Other Sciences
Biogeography is a synthetic discipline
Draws from Geography, Ecology, Population Biology, Systematics, Evolutionary Biology, Genetics, and Geology

10. Philosophy of Science
Scientists try to understand the natural world by explaining its enormous diversity and complexity in terms of general patterns and basic laws.
Examine the relationship between pattern and process
Pattern – Non-random, repetitive organization
The occurrence of pattern implies causation by some general process.
Searching for mechanistic explanations

11. Philosophy of Science
Inductive Reasoning – From specific observations to general principles.
Deductive Reasoning – From general constructs to specific cases.
Karl Popper (1968) introduced Hypothetico-Deductive Reasoning – A good scientific theory contains logical assumptions and consequences, and if these can be proven wrong, then the theory itself must be flawed.
Theories can be tested by setting up alternative, falsifiable hypotheses.
If a theory has withstood the severest empirical tests, then it is considered corroborated but can never be proven true.

12. Famous Biogeographers
Charles Darwin
Alfred Russel Wallace
Joseph Dalton Hooker
George Gaylord Simpson
Ernest Mayr
Robert MacArthur
Edward O. Wilson

13. Growth of the Field
Many early writers did not refer to their work as Biogeography. We can see the development of Biogeography as a field of study through its publications (per Biosis).

14. Searched on “Biogeography” in Biological Abstracts database 1/16/05
Biogeography Search
Searched on “Biogeography” in Biological Abstracts database 1/16/05

15. Biogeographic Techniques
Simulation modeling
GIS
Statistical Analysis
multivariate and geospatial statistics
Remote Sensing
Submersible vessels
Automated ground-based data collection systems
Radioisotopes
Stable isotopes
Molecular biological techniques
Genetic tools

16. Scale Issues

17. Fluid Dynamics

18. Patterns on the Landscape

19. Gross Primary Productivity
Levels of GPP
Red (highest), Orange, Yellow, Green, Blue (lowest)