BioGeography Exam 1

When did humankind’s ape-like ancestors, such as Australopithecus afarensis, begin to evolve rapidly?

2.5 million years ago

Where did humankind’s ape-like ancestors, such as Australopithecus afarensis, begin to evolve rapidly 2.5 million years ago?

East Africa’s Great Rift Valley

When did the great auk become extinct?

Mid-19th century

What was the only modern species in the genus Pinguinus?

Great auk (Pinguinus impennis)

Is the great auk (Pinguinus impennis) related to the penguins of the southern hemisphere?

No

The Penguins of the southern hemisphere were named so after their resemblance to the ________ species.

Northern

Camelops is an extinct genus of camel that lived in _____ and _______ America, ranging from ______ to ________.

North, Central, Alaska, Honduras

What is the traditional definition of biogeography?

The study of distributions of organismsW

What is biogeography (non-traditional definition)?

The science that attempts to document and understand spatial patterns of biological diversity

What is Comte de Buffon also known as?

Georges-Louis Leclerc

What is Comte de Buffon (Georges-Louis Leclerc) known by?

Histoire Naturelle, a 44-volume natural history encyclopedia

What did Buffon’s Law observe?

That distant regions with similar climate and similar-appearing vegetation have different animal species

What did Buffon propose?

A mechanism to explain biogeographic patterns: that species ‘improve’ or ‘degenerate’ according to their environment

Were Buffon’s laws of animal distribution regarded by Cuvier as veritable discoveries?

Yes

Who is regarded as the father of Taxonomy?

Linnaeus

What is Taxonomy?

The science of classification

What did Linnaeus study to explore the idea of the biblical flood?

The plants and animals spread from Mount Ararat in Turkey

Why did Linnaeus study the plants and animals spread from Mount Ararat in Turkey?

To explore the idea of the biblical flood

What did Linnaeus describe as a result of documenting elevational zones of Ararat?

The idea of biomes defined as major ecological communities

Linnaeus described the idea of biomes defined as major ecological communities as a result of what?

Documenting elevational zones of Ararat

Who was Johann Reinhold Forster?

The naturalist on James Cook’s second Pacific voyage in 1778

What did Johann Reinhold Forster do?

Created global biotic regions for plants, noted the higher biodiversity in the tropics, and noted species diversity being correlated with island size

What did Alexander von Humboldt create?

A botanical geography that was foundational to the field of biogeography

What did Alexander von Humboldt do?

Determined that plants are strongly correlated with local climate, created latitudinal belts of vegetation, and developed elevational vegetation zones for the Andes in South America

What is Charles Darwin most famous for?

Publishing The Origin of Species

What did The Origin of Species outline?

Charles Darwin’s idea of evolution through natural selection

When does natural selection occur?

When individuals in a population either do not survive equally well or do not breed equally well, or both due to inherited differences

What is Alfred Russel Wallace famous for?

Independently developing the idea of evolution by natural selection, based on his work in Indonesia

The greatest impact on biogeography in this period was the theory of ___________ _____ in 1912 and 1915 by the German geologist Alfred Wegener (1880-1930).

Continental drift

The greatest impact on biogeography in this period was the theory of continental drift in ____ and ____ by the German geologist Alfred Wegener (1880-1930).

1912, 1915The greatest impact on biogeography in this period was the theory of

The greatest impact on biogeography in this period was the theory of continental drift in 1912 and 1915 by the ______ _________ Alfred Wegener (1880-1930).

German geologist

The greatest impact on biogeography in this period was the theory of continental drift in 1912 and 1915 by the German geologist ______ _______ (1880-1930).

Alfred Wegener

What did the paper that Wegener found report?

Similar fossil plants and animals at both sides of the Atlantic, this was explained before by land bridges

What two countries did Wegener notice fit together like puzzle pieces?

Africa and South America

What was difficult for biogeographers to explain before the theory of plate tectonics?

Certain patterns of species distributions with the assumption that land masses were fixed in their geographic positions

When was Wegener’s theory widely accepted?

The 1960s when proof of continental drift came from a series of linear magnetic anomalies on either side of the Mid-Atlantic Ridge

What is modern biogeography?

Advances in ecological and historical theories focused on phylogenetic classification to related different species, mechanisms limiting geographic distribution, and distances and size influencing number of species in an area

What is Ernst Mayr well known for?

Defining the “biological species concept” as potentially interbreeding to produce fertile offspring

What expedition was Ernst Mayr asked to undertake?

An expedition to New Guinea on behalf of himself and the American Museum of Natural History in New York

What did Ernst Mayr observe on his expedition to New Guinea?

The locals have names for many of the species of birds described. Only a few exceptions, cases where species were dichromatic for instance

Who is Emil Hans Willi Hennig?

A German biologist and zoologist who is considered the founder of phylogenetic systematics, otherwise known as cladistics

What did Leon Croizat publish in 1958?

His concept of “vicariance biogeography” to explain disjunction of multiple species due to the growth of barriers instead of via dispersal

What is panbiogeography based on?

The analysis of patterns of distribution of organisms

What is a track in panbiogeography?

A line connecting collection localities or disjunct areas of a particular taxon

How does panbiogeography analysis work?

By analyzing biogeographic distributions through the drawing of tracks, and deriving information from the form and orientation of those tracks

When did R.H. MacArthur and E.O. Wilson hypothesize that species richness of an area could be predicted to explain distributions?

1963

Who hypothesized in 1963 that species richness of an area could be predicted to explain distributions?

R.H. MacArthur and E.O. Wilson

What did R.H. MacArthur and E.O. Wilson hypothesize in 1963?

That species richness of an area could be predicted to explain distributions

What does the area cladogram do?

Uses phylogenetic relationships to trace geographical changes- either dispersal events or barriers to dispersal

What is a biodiversity hotspot?

A biogeographic region with significant levels of biodiversity that is threatened by human habitation

Most species have __________ geographic range, but some of them have attained ______ or ___________ distributions.

Restricted, global, cosmopolitan

What is Tobler’s first law of geography?

Environments exhibit Spatial Correlation (or Distance Decay)

Explain Tobler’s first law of geography: Environments exhibit Spatial Correlation (or Distance Decay).

Environmental conditions tend to become more dissimilar with distance. Environmental conditions tend to have patterns of variation along the major geographical ranges: e.g. low to high elevations, Equator to poles, from ocean to estuaries, to upstream

What is Tobler’s first law of geography: Environments exhibit Spatial Correlation (or Distance Decay) based upon?

The concept of the friction of distance “where distance itself hinders interaction between places. The farther two places are apart, the greater the cost.

What is an example of Tobler’s first law of geography: Environments exhibit Spatial Correlation (or Distance Decay)?

One is less likely to travel across town to purchase a sandwich than walk to the corner store for the same sandwich

What did R.A. Fisher say in 1935?

“The widely verified fact that patches in close proximity are commonly more alike, as judged by the yield of crops, than those which are further apart.”

Who said, in 1935, that “The widely verified fact that patches in close proximity are commonly more alike, as judged by the yield of crops, than those which are further apart.”

R.A. Fisher

Who was Sir Ronald Aylmer Fisher?

A British polymath who was active as a mathematician, statistician, biologist, geneticist, and academic

What happens during both equinoxes?

The sun is directly above the Equator, and all parts of Earth have 12 hour day and night

What happens during summer solstice?

The Northern Hemisphere has longer days, the North Pole has 24 hours daylight, and the Antarctic Circle has 24 hours darkness

What are the three convective cells of each hemisphere?

Hadley, Ferrel, and Polar

Are the world’s deserts randomly distributed?

No

Where are the world’s deserts located?

30 N, 30 S, along leeward slopes of mountains

What are podzols?

Infertile and highly acidic soil that appear as either white or grey ash

What is laterization?

Prolonged process of chemical weathering

What is laterite?

Iron and aluminum

What is calcification?

Deposition of calcium carbonate in a soil in low precipitation areas having high rates of evaporation and thus water deficit

What is gleization?

A soil formation process that occurs as a result of poor drainage (lack of oxygen) and waterlogged conditions

Are soil types random?

No

What are soil types correlated with?

Climatic zones

What are oxisols?

A soil order in USDA soil taxonomy, best known for their occurrence in tropical rainforest within 25 degrees North and South of the Equator

What causes tides?

Centrifugal force caused by Earth’s rotation and gravitational force of the moon

When does a perigean spring tide occur?

When the moon is either new or full and closest to Earth

Who is William Smith?

English geologist credited with creating the first detailed, nationwide geological map of any country

What did E.O. Wilson and his graduate student Daniel Simberloff demonstrate in some mangrove islands in the Florida Keys?

There was an inverse relationship between the number of species on an island and the distance to the source region as predicted in The Theory of Island Biogeography

Who demonstrated in some mangrove islands in the Florida Keys that there was an inverse relationship between the number of species on an island and the distance to the source region as predicted in The Theory of Island Biogeography?

E.O. Wilson and his graduate student Daniel Simberloff

What is a Geographic Information System (GIS)?

A computer system that analyzes and displays geographically referenced information

What US states is Death Valley in?

California and Nevada

Why is Death Valley so hot and dry?

Because it is in the rain shadow of the Sierra Nevada mountain range

Where is Death Valley set?

282 feet (86 m) below sea level

What is the hottest air temperature ever recorded in Death Valley?

134 F (56.7 C)

Each species has a unique geographical range. What are biogeographers interested in?

Locality data, shifts on distribution (local and regional), morphological clines, physiological clines, behavior clines

Can maps be deceiving on representing distributions?

Yes

What are current geographical ranges the result of?

Responses of individuals, populations, and species to evolutionary history

The size of a range, location of its boundaries, and shifting of patterns of abundance within those boundaries reflect the influence of what?

Environmental conditions

What did Thomas Malthus demonstrate?

All kinds of organisms have the potential to increase its density exponentially

What did Evelyn Hutchinson do?

Developed the multidimensional niche concept as a hypervolume, where the geographical distribution is limited by several environmental factors

What is a fundamental niche?

The entire set of conditions under which an animal (population, species) can survive and reproduce itself

What are some things that limit the geographic range?

1. Physical limiting factors

2. Distance, disturbance, and time

3. Interactions with other organisms

4. Predation

5. Mutualism

6. Multiple interactions

What is an example of a physical limiting factor?

Habitat: The Saguaro cactus is restricted to the Sonoran desert. No tolerance to freezing temperatures

What is dispersal?

Movement of organisms away from their natal (natural) range

What is immigration?

Arrival of new individuals or new species to an isolated site or region

Dispersal only affects species distribution if it results in what?

Immigration

What is diffusion?

A slower process of range expansion, diffusion is accomplished over generations

What is secular migration?

Expansion occurring over timescales of many generations, allowing evolutionary change. Advancement of degeneration in Buffon’s terms

What is active dispersal?

If an organism has the capacity to travel long distances (e.g. birds, bats, large insects)

What is maximum migration distance?

Maximum recorded distance between breeding and foraging sites for each species

How do the majority of species disperse?

Passively

What organisms disperse passively?

Diaspores (seeds, propagules, spores, fruits), invertebrates, fungi, and microbes

Why might aerial invertebrates be affected different by wind dispersal?

Because they occupy different strata