page_title: Biogeography
hierarchical_section_title: Biogeography
caption_attribution_description: Deutsch: Weltkarte mit den Zoogeographischen Regionen English: World map showing the zoogeographical regions Español: Mapa del mundo que muestra las regiones zoogeográficas Meaning of numbers: Palæarctic region: Central and Northern Europe Mediterranean sub-region Siberian sub-region (Northern Asia) Japan and North China (Manchurian sub-region) Nearctic region: Californian sub-region Rocky Mountain sub-region Alleghany sub-region Canadian sub-region Ethiopian region East African sub-region (Central and East Africa) West African sub-region South African sub-region Malagasy sub-region (Madagascar and Mascarene Islands) Oriental region Indian sub-region (Hindostan) Sub-region of Ceylon and South India Indo-Chinese sub-region (Himalayan sub-region) Malayan sub-region (Indo-Malaya) Australian region Austro-Malayan sub-region Australian sub-region (Australia and Tasmania) Polynesian sub-region (Pacific Islands) New Zealand sub-region Neotropical region Chilian sub-region Brazilian sub-region Mexican sub-region Antillean sub-region
context_page_description: Biogeography is the study of how species are distributed. It aims to show where organisms live, and why they are found in a certain geographical area.
  The basic issue is that animals and plants are adapted to the places they live in, but similar places often have quite different animals and plants. One might expect to find, for example, that the animals in a tropical rain forest would be almost the same in Amazonia, equatorial Africa and Southeast Asia. But that is not the case.
  There must be reasons for this situation. Those reasons are the subject of research in biogeography. At first, from about 1800–1855, natural historians made lists of species in various regions of the world. These lists were published as tables in their books. A revolution started with Charles Darwin and Alfred Russel Wallace, who published the idea of evolution by natural selection. They had travelled in tropical countries, and wrote about the life in those countries. They said that evolution was the key to understanding geographical distribution.
  New species usually come about by an earlier species splitting in two: speciation. This takes place at a certain time and place.
context_section_description: Biogeography is the study of how species are distributed. It aims to show where organisms live, and why they are (or are not) found in a certain geographical area.
  The basic issue is that animals and plants are adapted to the places they live in, but similar places often have quite different animals and plants. One might expect to find, for example, that the animals in a tropical rain forest would be almost the same in Amazonia, equatorial Africa and Southeast Asia. But that is not the case.
  There must be reasons for this situation. Those reasons are the subject of research in biogeography. At first, from about 1800–1855, natural historians made lists of species in various regions of the world. These lists were published as tables in their books. A revolution started with Charles Darwin and Alfred Russel Wallace, who published the idea of evolution by natural selection. They had travelled in tropical countries, and wrote about the life in those countries. They said that evolution was the key to understanding geographical distribution.
  New species usually come about by an earlier species splitting in two: speciation. This takes place at a certain time and place. From that place, the new species may travel. It will be blocked by geographical features (seas, mountains...) and by climate. Thus, a species may never get to other places where it might be a great success. That, in general, is the reason why lands with similar climate often have quite different animals and plants. Classic examples are Australian marsupials and the Great American Interchange.
  Of course, different types of animals and plants have different mobility. It is easier for birds and insects to travel by flight and, in the sea, fish can easily travel. All the same, there are limits. Fish on either side of the Americas are usually different species; and fresh-water fish do not disperse much. So it comes about that:
  "The more distant countries are, the more dissimilar are their animals and plants; and the nearer they are, the more similar are their animals and plants".
caption: A map showing the zoogeographical regions.[1]
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