<p><strong>Biogeography</strong> is the study of the distribution of <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Biodiversity" title="Biodiversity">biodiversity</a> bioversity over <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Space" title="Space">space</a> and <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Time" title="Time">time</a>. It aims to reveal where organisms live, at what abundance, and why.<sup id="cite_ref-0" class="reference"><a hrefid="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Biogeography#cite_notecite_ref-0" title="">[1]</a></sup></p><p>The patterns of species distribution at this level can usually be explained through a combination of historical factors such as <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Speciation" title="Speciation">speciation</a>, <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Extinction" title="Extinction">extinction</a>, <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Continental_drift" title="Continental drift">continental drift</a>, <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Glaciation" class="mw-redirect" title="Glaciation">glaciation</a> (and associated variations in <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sea_level" title="Sea level">sea level</a>, river routes, and so on), and <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/River_capture" class="mw-redirect" title="River capture">river capture</a>, in combination with the area and isolation of landmasses (geographic constraints) and available energy supplies.</p> <p><a name="History" id="History"></a>&nbsp;</p><h2p><span class="editsection"></span><span class="mw-headline"><font size="5">History</font></span></h2p><p>The scientific theory of biogeography grows out of the work of <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alfred_Russel_Wallace" title="Alfred Russel Wallace">Alfred Russel Wallace</a> and other early evolutionary scientists. Wallace studied the distribution of flora and fauna in the Malay Archipelago in the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/19th_century" title="19th century">19th century</a>. With the exception of Wallace and a few others, prior to the publication of <em><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Theory_of_Island_Biogeography" class="mw-redirect" title="The Theory of Island Biogeography">The Theory of Island Biogeography</a></em> by <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_MacArthur" title="Robert MacArthur">Robert MacArthur</a> and <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edward_Osborne_Wilson" class="mw-redirect" title="Edward Osborne Wilson">E.O. Wilson</a> in <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1967" title="1967">1967</a> <sup id="cite_ref-1" class="reference"><a hrefid="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Biogeography#cite_notecite_ref-1" title="">[2]</a></sup> the field of biogeography was seen as a primarily historical one, and as such the field was seen as a purely descriptive one.</p><p>MacArthur and Wilson changed this perception, and showed that the species richness of an area could be predicted in terms of such factors as habitat area, immigration rate and extinction rate. This gave rise to an interest in <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Island_biogeography" title="Island biogeography">island biogeography</a>. The application of island biogeography theory to <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Habitat_fragmentation" title="Habitat fragmentation">habitat fragments</a> spurred the development of the fields of <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Conservation_biology" title="Conservation biology">conservation biology</a> and <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Landscape_ecology" title="Landscape ecology">landscape ecology</a>.<sup id="cite_ref-2" class="reference"><a hrefid="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Biogeography#cite_notecite_ref-2" title="">[3]</a></sup></p><p>Classic biogeography has been expanded by the development of <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Molecular_systematics" class="mw-redirect" title="Molecular systematics">molecular systematics</a>, creating a new discipline known as <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phylogeography" title="Phylogeography">phylogeography</a>. This development allowed scientists to test theories about the origin and dispersal of populations, such as <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Endemic_%28ecology%29" class="mw-redirect" title="Endemic (ecology)">island endemics</a>. For example, while classic biogeographers were able to speculate about the origins of species in the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hawaiian_Islands" title="Hawaiian Islands">Hawaiian Islands</a>, phylogeography allows them to test theories of relatedness between these populations and putative source populations in <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Asia" title="Asia">Asia</a> and <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/North_America" title="North America">North America</a>.</p><p><a name="Palaeobiogeography" id="Palaeobiogeography"></a>&nbsp;</p><h2p><span class="editsection"></span><span class="mw-headline"><font size="5">Palaeobiogeography</font></span></h2p><p><strong>Paleobiogeography</strong> goes one step further to include <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paleogeography" class="mw-redirect" title="Paleogeography">paleogeographic</a> data and considerations of <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plate_tectonics" title="Plate tectonics">plate tectonics</a>. Using molecular analyses and corroborated by <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fossils" class="mw-redirect" title="Fossils">fossils</a>, it has been possible to demonstrate that <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Perching_birds" class="mw-redirect" title="Perching birds">perching birds</a> evolved first in the region of <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Australia" title="Australia">Australia</a> or the adjacent <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Antarctic" class="mw-redirect" title="Antarctic">Antarctic</a> (which at that time lay somewhat further north and had a temperate climate). From there, they spread to the other <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gondwana" title="Gondwana">Gondwanan</a> continents and Southeast Asia - the part of <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Laurasia" title="Laurasia">Laurasia</a> then closest to their origin of dispersal - in the late <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paleogene" title="Paleogene">Paleogene</a>, before achieving a global distribution in the early <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neogene" title="Neogene">Neogene</a> (J&oslash;nsson &amp; Fjelds&aring; 2006). Not knowing the fact that at the time of dispersal, the Indian Ocean was much narrower than it is today, and that South America was closer to the Antarctic, one would be hard pressed to explain the presence of many &quot;ancient&quot; lineages of perching birds in Africa, as well as the mainly South American distribution of the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Suboscine" class="mw-redirect" title="Suboscine">suboscines</a>.</p><p><a name="Classification" id="Classification"></a>&nbsp;</p><h2p><span class="editsection"></span><span class="mw-headline"><font size="5">Classification</font></span></h2p><p>Biogeography is a synthetic science, related to <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Geography" title="Geography">geography</a>, <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Biology" title="Biology">biology</a>, <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Soil_science" title="Soil science">soil science</a>, <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Geology" title="Geology">geology</a>, <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Climatology" title="Climatology">climatology</a>, <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ecology" title="Ecology">ecology</a> and <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Evolution" title="Evolution">evolution</a>.</p>

<li><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Evolution" title="Evolution">evolution</a> (change in genetic composition of a population)</li> <li><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Extinction" title="Extinction">extinction</a> (disappearance of a species)</li> <li><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Biological_dispersal" title="Biological dispersal">dispersal</a> (movement of populations away from their point of origin, related to <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bird_migration" title="Bird migration">migration</a>)</li> <li>range and distribution</li> <li>endemic areas</li> <li>vicariance</li>

<p><a nameid="See_also" idname="See_also"></a></p>

<div style="-moz-column-count: 3;">

<li><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ecozone" title="Ecozone">Ecozone</a> (biogeographic region or biogeographical realm)</li> <li><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ecological_land_classification" title="Ecological land classification">Ecological land classification</a></li> <li><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ecoregion" title="Ecoregion">Ecoregion</a></li> <li><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Macroecology" title="Macroecology">Macroecology</a></li> <li><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phylogeography" title="Phylogeography">Phylogeography</a></li> <li><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zoogeography" title="Zoogeography">Zoogeography</a>

<li><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Zoogeographic_province&amp;action=edit&amp;redlink=1" class="new" title="Zoogeographic province (page does not exist)">Zoogeographic province</a></li>

<li><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phytogeography" title="Phytogeography">Phytogeography</a>

<li><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Floristic_province" class="mw-redirect" title="Floristic province">Floristic province</a></li>

<li><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Continental_drift" title="Continental drift">Continental drift</a></li> <li><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tectonic_plates" class="mw-redirect" title="Tectonic plates">Tectonic plates</a></li> <li><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alfred_Russel_Wallace" title="Alfred Russel Wallace">Alfred Russel Wallace</a></li> <li><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_Darwin" title="Charles Darwin">Charles Darwin</a></li> <li><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Miklos_Udvardy" title="Miklos Udvardy">Miklos Udvardy</a></li> <li><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_publications_in_biology#Biogeography" class="mw-redirect" title="List of publications in biology">Important publications in biogeography</a></li>

<p><a nameid="Notes_and_References" idname="Notes_and_References"></a></p>

<li id="cite_note-0"><strong><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Biogeography#cite_ref-0" title="">^</a></strong> Martiny JBH et al <a href="http://alrlab.pdx.edu/media/HughesBiogeoNature.pdf" class="external text" title="http://alrlab.pdx.edu/media/HughesBiogeoNature.pdf" rel="nofollow">Microbial biogeography: putting microorganisms on the map</a> <em>Nature: FEBRUARY 2006 | VOLUME 4</em></li> <li id="cite_note-1"><strong><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Biogeography#cite_ref-1" title="">^</a></strong> This work expanded their <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1963" title="1963">1963</a> paper on the same topic.</li> <li id="cite_note-2"><strong><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Biogeography#cite_ref-2" title="">^</a></strong> This applies to British and American academics; landscape ecology has a distinct genesis among European academics.</li>

<p><a nameid="Further_reading" idname="Further_reading"></a></p>

<li>J&oslash;nsson, Knud A. &amp; Fjelds&aring;, Jon (2006): Determining biogeographical patterns of dispersal and diversification in oscine passerine birds in Australia, Southeast Asia and Africa. <em><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Journal_of_Biogeography" title="Journal of Biogeography">J. Biogeogr.</a></em> <strong>33</strong>(7): 1155&ndash;1165. <small><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Digital_object_identifier" title="Digital object identifier">DOI</a>:<a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/j.1365-2699.2006.01507.x" class="external text" title="http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/j.1365-2699.2006.01507.x" rel="nofollow">10.1111/j.1365-2699.2006.01507.x</a></small> (HTML abstract)</li> <li>Dansereau, Pierre (1957): Biogeography: An Ecological Perspective. Ronald Press Company, New York City, <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:BookSources/0826023304" class="internal">ISBN 0826023304</a>.</li>

<p><a nameid="External_links" idname="External_links"></a></p>

<li><a hrefclass="external text" title="http://www.biogeography.org/officers.htm" classrel="external textnofollow" titlehref="http://www.biogeography.org/officers.htm" rel="nofollow">International Biogeogaphy Society</a></li> <li><a hrefclass="external text" title="http://www.wku.edu/%7Esmithch~smithch/biogeog/" classrel="external textnofollow" titlehref="http://www.wku.edu/~smithch%7Esmithch/biogeog/" rel="nofollow">Early Classics in Biogeography, Distribution, and Diversity Studies: To 1950</a></li> <li><a hrefclass="external text" title="http://www.wku.edu/%7Esmithch~smithch/biogeog/index2.htm" classrel="external textnofollow" titlehref="http://www.wku.edu/~smithch%7Esmithch/biogeog/index2.htm" rel="nofollow">Early Classics in Biogeography, Distribution, and Diversity Studies: 1951-1975</a></li> <li><a hrefclass="external text" title="http://www.wku.edu/%7Esmithch/chronob/homelist.htm" classrel="external textnofollow" titlehref="http://www.wku.edu/%7Esmithch/chronob/homelist.htm" rel="nofollow">Some Biogeographers, Evolutionists and Ecologists: Chrono-Biographical Sketches</a></li>

<p><a nameid="Major_journals" idname="Major_journals"></a></p>

<li><a hrefclass="external text" title="http://www.blackwellpublishing.com/journal.asp?ref=0305-0270" classrel="external textnofollow" titlehref="http://www.blackwellpublishing.com/journal.asp?ref=0305-0270" rel="nofollow"><em>Journal of Biogeography</em> homepage</a>.</li> <li><a hrefclass="external text" title="http://www.blackwellpublishing.com/journal.asp?ref=1466-822X&amp;site=1" classrel="external textnofollow" titlehref="http://www.blackwellpublishing.com/journal.asp?ref=1466-822X&amp;site=1" rel="nofollow"><em>Global Ecology and Biogeography</em> homepage</a>.</li> <li><a hrefclass="external text" title="http://www.blackwellpublishing.com/eco" classrel="external textnofollow" titlehref="http://www.blackwellpublishing.com/eco" rel="nofollow"><em>Ecography</em> homepage</a></li>