biogeographic

Biogeographic is an adjective relating to biogeography, the scientific study of the distribution of species and ecosystems across geographic space and through time. The term is used to describe patterns, histories, and processes that determine where organisms occur and how their distributions change.

Biogeography examines patterns such as endemism, species richness gradients, island biogeography, and the division of the Earth into biogeographic realms and provinces. Central drivers include dispersal and vicariance, the formation of barriers, climate change, habitat availability, and evolutionary processes like speciation and extinction. Geologic events such as plate tectonics shape distributions over deep time, as do ecological interactions and environmental conditions.

Researchers employ historical biogeography, which uses the fossil record, phylogenies, and paleogeography to infer past distributions, alongside ecological or contemporary biogeography, which analyzes current distributions through niche modeling, GIS, and community ecology. Methods such as molecular clocks, phylogeography, and species distribution modeling help link historical events with present patterns and project future changes under climate scenarios.

Biogeographic classifications partition the world into realms and provinces, a framework widely used in biodiversity studies and conservation planning. Examples include the Nearctic, Neotropical, Palearctic, Afrotropic, Indomalayan, and Australasian realms, with finer subdivisions into biogeographic provinces. Island biogeography theory explains how island size and isolation influence species richness and endemism.

Applications of biogeography span biodiversity assessment, conservation planning, invasion biology, and forecasting responses to climate change. The term biogeographic appears in scientific literature to describe studies, analyses, and hypotheses addressing the geographic distribution of life.