bio geography evolution

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Biogeography and Evolution

Leith Nye and Rachel Schmidt

February 28, 2006


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Biogeography

the study of what organisms live

where on earth and why(from Humphries and Parenti, 1999)


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A naturalist in Europe

Carolus Linnaeus (17071778)


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From the Ark to Ararat

Bible (AD):

Young Earth

Single creation of perfectspecies

Origin: Mt. Ararat, Turkeywhere Ark landed

Linnaeus (1735):

Notes variation in form Mountainous island center of

origin theory

Possible remains of Noahs Ark, Mt. Ararat

Linnaeuss Mountainous Island Post Flood


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Buffon the Visionary

Georges Buffon (1761)

Noted faunisticdifferences and

similarities betweenregions of similar climate(Buffons Law)

Fossils, extinction,changes in species,climate and geography

Map of Artic from Histoire Naturelle

Georges de Buffon ca. 1760


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Continuing Exploration

Humboldt (1805)

Plant zonation, associations

and biomes

Candolle (1820)Coined term endemic

Defined ca. 20 regions of

endemism

Disjunctions: bipolar and

Africa-Austraila

Augustin Pyrame de Candolle

Alexander von Humboldt


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Geographical regions have characteristic biotas.

Similar/closely related taxa tend to be closer together

than more distantly related groups.

Similar environments are found in different areas BUT

the same species may not be found in all places where

they could be!

Not closely related species in similar environments

may appear similar due to convergence.

What are patterns of distribution

of species seen across the globe?


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How else might we explain thisdistribution without biogeography

principles??

What distributions would we expect

to see WITHOUT macroevolution??


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Worlds Biomes


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What broad distribution

patterns do we actually see?


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Distinct Faunas across Similar

Environments

Wallaces Faunal Regions


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Distinct Floras across Similar Environments

Goods Floristic Regions


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In considering thedistribution of organic beingsover the face of the globe,

the first great fact thatstrikes us is, that neither thesimilarity nor the dissimilarityof the inhabitants of variousregions can be wholly

accounted for by climataland other physicalconditions.

Charles Darwin, The Origin of Species

A reasonable nonevolutionary prediction is that species should occur wherever

their habitat is. However, macroevolution predicts just the opposite there

should be many locations where a given species would thrive yet is not found

there, due to geographical barriers.

Futuyma, D. (1998) Evolutionary Biology. Third edition. Sunderland, Mass., SinauerAssociates


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The Origin of Species

Evidence: Geographical Distribution I and II

1. Regions with identical climate have different floras and

faunas (Buffons Law).2. Geographic barriers closely associated with breaks

between taxonomic groups.

3. Within a region, organisms are often closely relatedeven across environmental gradients and lowertaxonomic groups often show narrower distributionsthan higher.


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1. Similar Climate, Different Taxa

Cactaceae in North American deserts

Courtesy of K.J. Sytsma

Euphorbiaceae in southern African deserts


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Geographic Barriers and Distinct Biota

Very different marine biota

More similar marine biota


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3. Closely Related Taxa in Close Proximity

Wallaces Line


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Disjunctions: A Bur in Darwins Saddle

Darwin goes to great pains to show how disjunct patternsof species distributions can be explained throughclimate changes, geological changes and dispersal.

Examples:

1. Same alpine species on mountains between andacross continents result of cycles of glaciation andmigration.

2. Similarity of freshwater fish species across continentsdue to flooding, twisters, birds, salt water tolerance etc.

3. Islands biota can be explained by dispersal andprevious existence of now submerged island chains.


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Vicariance vs. Dispersal

similar pattern, different process

Disjunct (vicariad) species

Disjunct continental areas

Disjunct species


Species l imited to one area


Dispersal across ocean

barrier

Divergence inisolation

Widespread species

Continuous continental area

Erection of ocean

barrier

Divergence in

isolation

Vicariance

Dispersal



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Islands- Hawaii vs. MadagascarHe who admits the doctrine of creation of each separate species, will have to

admit that a sufficient number of the best adapted plants and animals werenot created for oceanic islands, for man has unintentionally stocked them

far more fully and perfectly than did nature.

-Darwin, The Origin of Species


Vi i Th L ki M h i


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Vicariance Theory Lacking MechanismOther authors have thus hypothetically bridged over every ocean and united

almost every island with some mainland. If indeed the arguments used by

Forbes are to be trusted, it must be admitted that scarcely a single island

exists which has not recently been united to some continent. This view cutsthe Gordian knot of the dispersal of the same species to the most distant

points , and removes many a difficulty; but to the best of my judgement we

are not authorized in admitting such enormous geographical changes within

the period of existing species.

Darwin, 1859



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Plate TectonicsEnter Alfred Wegener

Wegener relied heavily on biogeographical evidence for defending hiscontroversial continental drift theory

Glossopteris Permianfern

Mesosaurus Freshwater Permian Reptile

CynognathusTriassiclandreptile

Lystrosaurus Triassic land reptile



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Southern Hemisphere Temperate Flora

35 species of trees and shrubs, evergreen and deciduous, restricted to South

America, New Zealand, Australia, Tasmania, New Caledonia, New Guinea,and fossilized in Antarctica

Nothofagaceae

????

Absent from Africa! odd continent out



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Three major patterns of dispersal/vicariance modality can be identified: 1) Cretaceous dispersal

to Madagascar with ensuing distributions from India (and/or South Africa) across Antarctica to

South America and Australo-E. Malesia during the time of the initial radiation of the

angiosperms; 2) Eocene-Oligocene (and continuing to the present) dispersal to Madagascar

(and Africa) from Laurasia and W. Malesia via India (pre- and post-collision with Asia) along"Lemurian Stepping-stones" in the western Indian Ocean; and 3) continuous (and recent) long

distance dispersal (LDD) to Madagascar as a function of the prevailing easterly winds and

Indian Ocean currents.

-G.E. Schatz, Malagasy/Indo-australomalesian Phytogeographic Connections


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Species and Areas: History of Ideas

1. Acceptance of plate tectonics

Up until the 1960s, most persons consideredthe earth's crust to be fixed. Finally, in the

1960s the geological evidence was at handthat made continental drift irrefutable.

Two important scientific advances in the mid 20th century

have revolutionized historical biogeography

2. Development of new phylogeneticmethods

Willi Hennig (1950) introduced the modernconcepts of phylogenetic theory (firstpublished in 1956). Using this methodology,hypotheses of historical lineages of species

could be reconstructed.



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What is the ID/creationist response

to biogeography?


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We see in these facts some deep organic bond,

throughout space and time, over the same areas

of land and water, independently of physical

conditions. The naturalist must be dull who isnot led to inquire what that bond is . . . The bond

is simple inheritance.

Darwin, The Origin of Species

References:


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References:

Cox, B.C. and P.D. Moore. 2005. Biogeography: An Ecological and Evolutionary Approach. Blackwell Publishing,Malden, MA, USA.

Darwin, C. 1859. The Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection, or the Preservation of Favoured Races in theStruggle for Life. John Murray, London, UK.

Humphries, C.J. and L.R. Parenti. 1999. Cladistic Biogeography: Interpreting Patterns of Plant and AnimalDistributions. Oxford University Press, Oxford, UK.

Johnson, W.E. et al. 2006. The late Miocene radiation of modern Felidae: A genetic assessment. Science 311:73-77.

Knox, E.B. and J.D. Palmer. 1995. Chloroplast DNA variation and the recent radiation of the giant senecios

(Asteraceae) on tall mountains of eastern Africa. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. 92: 10349-1-353.

Lomolino, M.V., D.F. Sax and J.H. Brown, editors. 2004. Foundations in Biogeography. The Unversity of ChicagoPress, Chicago, IL, USA.

Wegener, A. 1915. Die Enstehung der Kontinente und Ozeane. Sammlung Vieweg und Sohn, Braunschweig.

Whitfield,J. 2005. Biogeography: Is everything everywhere? Science 310:960-961.

International Institute for Aerospace Survey and Earth Sciences, Gondwana Animation:

http://www.kartografie.nl/gondwana/index.asp

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