Biogeography and Evolution

Flashcards covering key vocabulary and concepts related to biogeography and evolution.

Biogeography

The study of the distribution of life across space and how it has changed with time.

Ecological Biogeography

Concerned with short-term periods of time, focusing on local and intra-continental questions, primarily at lower taxonomic levels like species or subspecies.

Historical Biogeography

Concerned with long-term evolutionary periods with larger global areas and often higher taxonomic levels.

Buffon's Law

The concept that similar environments in different regions contain different groupings of organisms.

Endemism

The restriction of a species or group of species to a particular locality or region.

Natural Selection

The mechanism for evolution, where individuals with favorable traits are more likely to survive and reproduce.

Lamarckian Inheritance

The idea that an organism can acquire traits during its lifetime and pass them on to its offspring.

Charles Lyell

A geologist who developed the Theory of Uniformitarianism and promoted the understanding that species and climates change over time.

Charles Darwin

An English naturalist credited with developing the theory of natural selection.

Alfred Russel Wallace

A British naturalist who independently conceived the theory of evolution through natural selection.