Spatial distribution of species and higher taxa across geography and geological time. Bridge between ecology, evolution, and geology; informs conservation prioritisation and invasion risk.
biogeography
Wallace line
Sharp faunal boundary separating Asian from Australasian mammalian faunas between Bali/Lombok and Borneo/Sulawesi (Wallace 1859). Reflects…
Island biogeography (MacArthur–Wilson)
Equilibrium species richness on an island balances immigration (decreasing with distance from source) against extinction (decreasing with…
Endemism
Taxon restricted to a particular geographic area (island, mountain, basin). High-endemism hotspots (Madagascar, New Zealand, Caucasus, Horn…
Dispersal vs vicariance
Two explanations for disjunct distributions: dispersal (crossing pre-existing barriers), vicariance (barrier arises through an intact…
Latitudinal diversity gradient
Species richness peaks at low latitudes and declines poleward for most taxa. Leading hypotheses: greater energy/productivity, evolutionary…
Biogeographic realm
Continental-scale faunal region: Palearctic, Nearctic, Neotropical, Afrotropical, Indomalayan, Australasian, Oceanian, Antarctic (Udvardy…
Climate-driven range shift
Species tracking their climatic niche as global temperatures rise: poleward (~17 km/decade) and upward (~11 m/decade) median shifts.…
MacArthur-Wilson equilibrium: dS/dt = c(P−S) − eS; island biogeography ODE framework
MacArthur-Wilson island-biogeography equilibrium framework — the canonical balance-of-immigration-and-extinction ODE model that founded…
Rapoport's rule: R(φ) = a + b·|φ|; latitudinal-range-size regression framework
Rapoport's rule framework — the macroecological empirical regularity that geographical range size of a taxon increases with absolute…
Fisher-KPP dispersal wave: ∂u/∂t = D·∂²u/∂x² + r·u·(1−u); traveling-front framework
Fisher-Kolmogorov-Petrovsky-Piskunov (FKPP) dispersal-wave framework — the canonical reaction-diffusion PDE governing spatial spread of an…
MacArthur-Wilson theorem: S*=cP/(c+e); dS|₀=cP; dS|_P=−eP; τ=1/(c+e); c=e → P/2
Sympy-exact symbolic witness of the MacArthur-Wilson equilibrium identities. Setup: c (colonisation rate), e (extinction rate), P…
Rapoport theorem: b_2pt=(y1−y2)/(x1−x2); b_std=ρσy/σx; (u1v2−u2v1)²≥0; 1−ρ²=−(ρ−1)(ρ+1)
Sympy-exact symbolic witness of the Rapoport-rule OLS-regression + Cauchy-Schwarz-bound identities. Setup: (x_1, y_1), (x_2, y_2) two OLS…
FKPP theorem: c*=2√D·√r (split-radical canonical); c*|_{D=1}=2√r; c*|_{r=1}=2√D; λ_min=−√r/√D
Sympy-exact symbolic witness of the Fisher-KPP minimum-wave-speed + leading-edge decay-rate identities. Setup: D, r — positive symbols…
Wallace line (1860)
A Wallace 1860 Wallace-line; faunal-discontinuity Sundaland-Sahul; basis of biogeography + plate-tectonics validation.
Vicariance (Cracraft 1974)
J Cracraft 1974 vicariance vs dispersal; modern Brooks parsimony-analysis biogeography + BioGeoBEARS.
Phylogeography (Avise 1987)
J Avise 1987 phylogeography intersection of phylogeny + biogeography; modern coalescent-based + Bayesian.
Biomes (Holdridge 1947)
L Holdridge 1947 life-zones; modern Whittaker biome + climate-driven; basis of conservation-biology.
Modern biogeography
Modern Lomolino 2017 biogeography text + Hortal 2015 7 shortfalls + climate-change range-shifts; modern WorldClim.
Wallace line (Wallace 1860)
A Wallace 1860 Lombok-strait Wallace-line; modern modern foundational + Lydekker 1896 + Weber 1902 transition-zones biogeographic-realm.
Gondwana (Wegener 1912)
A Wegener 1912 continental-drift + 1969 plate-tectonics; modern modern foundational + paleobiogeography + cladistic-vicariance Brundin 1966.
Phylogeography (Avise 1987)
J Avise 1987 phylogeography mtDNA; modern modern foundational + comparative-phylogeography + 2024 high-throughput-genome-scan landscape.
Vicariance (Rosen 1978)
D Rosen 1978 vicariance-biogeography; modern modern foundational + DEC + BioGeoBEARS Matzke 2014 statistical model-selection.
GABI (Simpson 1980)
G G Simpson 1980 + Webb 1976 Great-American-biotic-interchange; modern modern Pliocene 2.7 Ma + 2024 phylogenomic-revival Bacon.
Diversity-Whittaker (1960)
R Whittaker 1960 α-β-γ-diversity; modern modern foundational text + Jost-2007 framework + 2024 metagenomic-microbial-biogeo.