biogeographies
Biogeography is the scientific study of the distribution of organisms across geographic space and through time. It seeks to explain why particular species occur where they do, how regional faunas and floras are assembled, and how historical events and ecological processes shape current patterns. The plural form “biogeographies” is used to refer both to geographic patterns of life and to the subfields that study them.
Dispersal, vicariance, and extinction are key processes. Dispersal moves organisms between areas; vicariance splits ranges by
Biogeography includes several subfields: ecological biogeography focuses on present-day distributions and environmental correlates; historical biogeography investigates
In practice, biogeography informs conservation, biodiversity assessment, and climate-change studies by predicting where species are likely
Historically, biogeography developed from observations by naturalists such as Humboldt and Wallace, and it has grown