1. Biogeography--study of the distributions of organisms on the earth
Biota—the flora and fauna of a region

2. Objectives of Biogeography
Classifying geographic regions based on their biotas
Reconstructing the historical development of biotas, including their origin, spread, and diversification
Explaining differences in numbers and types of species among geographic regions

3. Objectives of Biogeography
Explaining geographic variation in characteristics of individuals and populations of closely related species

4. Zoogeography—the distributions of animal species
However, phytogeography and zoogeography are closely linked

5. Zoogeography synthesizes data from
Phytogeography
Ecology
Evolutionary Biology
Paleontology
Geology
Geography

6. Two of many different specialized areas in biogeography include:
Historical biogeography
Ecological biogeography

7. Two important issues
Change—earth is dynamic
Scale

8. The scientific process
Identification of patterns
Development of explanations or hypotheses for these patterns
Development of predictions from the hypotheses.
Testing of predictions with data

9. Assumption of uniformitarianism or actualism

10. Darwin’s observations
Fossils
Vicariant species
Galapagos species

11. The Origin of Species
published in 1859

12. Biological evolution is simply changes in gene frequencies within populations over time. A population is a group of organisms of the same species found together at one place at one point in time.

13. Biologists assume changes in gene frequencies are linked to changes in the frequencies of morphological, physiological, and behavioral characteristics of individuals.

14. Natural selection is one
mechanism of evolution

15. Necessary and sufficient conditions for natural selection:
Variability of traits among individuals
Heritability of these traits
Differential reproductive success associated with these traits

16. Keep in mind:
Traits which increase reproductive success, rather than survivorship, are more likely to increase in frequency in future generations
Individuals and their traits are acted upon by natural selection, not species

17. Other agent of evolution:
Genetic drift

18. Speciation Phyletic speciation (anagenesis)
True speciation (cladogenesis)

19. Allopatric speciation
Geographic isolation
Population divergence
Why do populations diverge?
Natural selection
Genetic drift

20. Biological species—a group of actually or potentially interbreeding natural populations which are reproductively isolated from other such groups

21. Ethological differences Mechanical differences Post zygotic:
Isolating mechanisms (evolved through natural selection or genetic drift)
Prezygotic:
Habitat differences
Temporal differences
Ethological differences
Mechanical differences
Post zygotic:
Poor quality offspring

22. Problems with bsc Semi-species Allochronic species Allopatric species
Ring species
Asexual species
Hybridization

23. Phylogenetic species concept (PSC)--a species is the smallest aggregation of populations diagnosable by a unique combination of characters and that share a common ancestor. Reproductive compatibility is not a criterion for deciding whether individuals belong to the same species or not.

24. Problems with the PSC Leads to too many species
Ignores important biological information such as reproductive compatibility
Species can be diagnosed on the basis of trivial characters
Too much emphasis on morphology

25. Evolution is an ongoing process
Any two individual organisms are somewhere between very distantly related and very closely related
The evolution of new species takes place over time so any group of organisms may be somewhere along the line from being either full conspecifics, or members of fully separate species