Continental Drift.
A brief history of plate movement (See text for figures)
the continental collision at the end of the Permian was
thought to be involved in the extinction of marine families.
The grand scale -- Biogeographic realms
I - Palearctic
II - Ethiopian
III- Oriental
IV - Australian
V - Nearctic
VI - Neotropical
Example of Ratites -- Flightless birds
Emu, Ostrich, Rhea distributed Australia, Africa, South
America
Example of Mammals
Placentials verus Marsupials
Levels of endemism is the key: the degree of restriction in a species geographic range.
Phylogeny -- Knowledge of taxonomic
affinities is essential. You must be dealing with a monophyletic group.
The problem of Convergence
-- There is a tendency to find animals among biogeographic realms to converge
in morphology, life history, and ecology
For Monophyletic taxa two processes have been proposed
to explain biogeographic patterns:
1) Dispersal from the region in which a clade originated
2) Vicariance -- a formerly
disjunct distribution has become fragmented by some external factor.
Phylogenetic evidence used as indicators of biogeographic
history (overhead)
Vicariance biogeography examples
in operation
Cichlid fish in the African Rift Valleys (Axel Meyer)
Placentials and Marsupials
I will also begin a review by going over the population genetic aspects of a debate in conservation biology over the design of nature preserves - Single Large or Several Small Preserves or SLOSS for short.