Biogeography and Species Distribution

0.0(0)
studied byStudied by 0 people
learnLearn
examPractice Test
spaced repetitionSpaced Repetition
heart puzzleMatch
flashcardsFlashcards
Card Sorting

1/33

flashcard set

Earn XP

Description and Tags

Flashcards on biogeography and species distribution.

Study Analytics
Name
Mastery
Learn
Test
Matching
Spaced

No study sessions yet.

34 Terms

1
New cards

Biogeography

  • the study of geographical distribution of organisms

  • Lomolino et al., 2017

2
New cards

Environmental Controls on Species Distribution

  • climate control major driver of distribution

<ul><li><p>climate control major driver of distribution </p></li></ul><p></p>
3
New cards

Geographic Controls on Species Distribution

  • Vicariance = seperation of a pop by a physical barrier leading to similar species

  • Dispersal = movement of species from one location to another, resulting in different evolutionary pathways.

  • Connectivity of habitats can change - can vary over time

  • Barriers affecting species individually

  • Abandoned patches may re-connect - become homegnised again

  • Lomolino et al., 2017

4
New cards

Biogeographic regions

  • distinct areas with unique plant and animal life shaped by ecological and historical factors

  • Lomolino et al., 2017

5
New cards

Importance of islands

  • physical attributes make them an ideal place of research

  • key figures have contributed to biogeography using islands

  • Islands as model systems + provide research opportunities

  • many of them

  • find islands in all climate zones

  • discrete - have edges - where water starts

  • Warren et al., 2015

6
New cards

Types of islands

  • Continental

  • Oceanic

  • Barrier

  • Tidal

  • Coral

  • Artificial

  • Lomolino et al., 2017

7
New cards

Evolutionary filter and species selection on islands

  • Group of species arriver at an island

  • community assemblage

  • evolutionary filter - make species go extinct

  • Whittaker et al., 2013

8
New cards

Island Syndromes

Unique evolutionary traits and vulnerabilities that species develop upon reaching isolated islands.

Lomolino et al., 2017

9
New cards

Importance of islands - physical factors - Isolation (Sympatric Isolation)

  • once apart of neighbouring continent - likely to have flora and fauna from mainland

  • speciation occurs in isolation

  • Santos et al., 2016

10
New cards

Island analogues

  • Lakes - can be defined spatially

  • Lakes used as models to study island biogeography

  • most tests here focus on relationship between species richness and lake surface area / isolation

  • Hortal et al., 2014

11
New cards

Island size

  • positive relationship between the area of a habitat and the number of species found in the area

  • large islands have more species

  • small spaces can only support a small number of species

  • rising sea levels during warm phases = fragmented the region into large islands and archipelagos

  • leads to speciation through isolation

  • Whittaker wt al., 2007

12
New cards

Distance from the mainland

  • Rising sea levels - make islands further away from mainland

  • oceans barriers to distribution if land animals (Allopatric isolation)

  • island communities of not always have lower diversity than mainland - Santos et al., 2016

  • near islands will have higher immigration rates than far islands - Warren et al., 2015

  • MacArthur and Wilson - Island species area relationship steeper with increasing geographic isolation

  • Small island effect - certain species can not occur on an island below a certain size

13
New cards

Ecoregions

  • identified by analysing patterns and composition of biotic and abiotic components

  • E.g. geology, soil, land use etc

  • Lomolino et al., 2017

14
New cards

Darwin and Islands

  • Mocking bird species on 3 islands in the Pacific - different from each other

  • Fossils found in South America - sloth and armadillo - contradicted idea that species were fixed

  • Galapagos islands - size of finches beak varies

  • biogeographical processes from one study

  • Immigration —> colonisation —> adaptive radiation

  • Cox and Moore, 2019

15
New cards

Colonisation

  • plant or animal establishing itself in an area

  • Cox and Moore, 2019

16
New cards

Adaptive radiation

  • process in which organisms diversify from ancestral species into new forms

  • Cox and Moore, 2019

17
New cards

Wallace

  • realised that closely related species were found close together geographically

  • distance from mainland will affect diversity if biota

  • Santos et al., 2015

18
New cards

Wallace Line

  • shows how species remain separate

  • can not travel between islands due to sea level rise

  • Santos et al., 2015

<ul><li><p>shows how species remain separate </p></li><li><p>can not travel between islands due to sea level rise </p></li><li><p>Santos et al., 2015</p></li></ul><p></p>
19
New cards

Natural selection

  • organisms with traits better suited to environment - more likely to survive - pass on traits + reproduce

  • by Darwin and Wallace

  • Cox and Moore, 2019

20
New cards

MacArthur and Wilson

  • theory of island biogeography = number of species on an island is the result of dynamic equilibrium between species becoming extinct

  • biota affected by degree of isolation

  • rate of immigration balanced by rate of extinction

  • may take time to establish equilibrium

  • theory does not always work

  • Warren et al., 2015

<ul><li><p>theory of island biogeography = number of species on an island is the result of dynamic equilibrium between species becoming extinct</p></li><li><p>biota affected by degree of isolation</p></li><li><p>rate of immigration balanced by rate of extinction</p></li><li><p>may take time to establish equilibrium </p></li><li><p>theory does not always work </p></li><li><p>Warren et al., 2015</p></li></ul><p></p>
21
New cards

SLOSS debate (Single Large or Several Small) - link to Island biogeography theory

  • optimal strategy for conserving biodiversity in fragmented habitats

  • will a single large reserve conserve more or serval small ones

  • catastrophe - everything will go - better to have smaller areas

  • Cox and Moore, 2019

22
New cards

Edge effect - ink to Island biogeography theory

  • more edge - ratio is higher when you have smaller islands rather than one big one

  • Cox and Moore, 2019

23
New cards

Ecological factors - Succession and disturbance

  • large disturbances can lead to areas being exposed and reshaped

  • Spiller et al., 1998

  • e.. Krakatoa volcano in 1883

  • biological invasions can change the local environment

24
New cards

Ecological factors - Evolution and adaptation

  • evolution change in response to conditions

  • process takes long - unlikely to occur anywhere but islands - provide opportunity for species to live long enough for adaptation

  • Evolution key role in community assembly

  • Thorpe, 2005

25
New cards

Conservation theory

  • Habitat fragmentation = reduction in the area of the original habitat and spatial configuration of that remains

  • assumptions - fragments are similar to oceanic islands

  • Haila, 2002

26
New cards

Paleogeography

Past geographic conditions have shaped current biogeographic regions.

27
New cards

Processes that affect differentiation at palaeographic scales

  • plate tectonics

  • climate history

  • evolutionary history

  • Willis and McElwain, 2014

28
New cards

Case study for Palaeography

  • Gibraltar straight closing connected Europe and Africa 5 to 6 mill years ago

  • species competition if North Africa and Europe

  • Unable to cross

  • Willis and McElwain, 2014

29
New cards

Tobler’s Law

  • everything is related to everything - butnear things are more related than distant

  • exception - environment shows string contrasts so near places differ greatly

  • Near things may not be more similar -

  • Anisotropic Long-Distant Dispersal Hypothesis

  • E.g. stronger correlation of floristic similarities with wind connectivity than proximity

  • Lomolino et al., 2017

30
New cards

Anthropogenic Controls on Species Distribution

Human activities influence species distributions.

<p>Human activities influence species distributions. </p>
31
New cards

Rufugia - climate change

  • earth got cooler - water locked up in ice - drier

  • impact on poles greater

  • tropical forest = drier - retract in refugia

  • glacial maxima - tropical forest shrank + fragmented

  • speciation occurred

  • end of glacial period - warmer

  • habitat islands grew again

  • more speciation

  • evidence for this : areas in the Amazon where there are highly biodiverse in certain types of species

  • e.g. butterflies in all patches

  • Cox and Moore, 2019

32
New cards

Dispersal

  • The movement of a species from one area of land to another, particularly relevant in island biogeography.

  • Lomolino et al., 2017

33
New cards

Invasive Species

  • Species that colonize areas they were previously unable to inhabit due to geographic barriers.

  • Lomolino et al., 2017

34
New cards

Zoogeographic Regions

  • Regions defined based on the distribution of vertebrate families and genera.

  • Lomolino et al., 2017