Biogeography and Evolution

Leith Nye and Rachel Schmidt

February 28, 2006
 Biogeography

the study of what organisms live

where on earth and why
(from Humphries and Parenti, 1999)
A naturalist in Europe

CarolusLinnaeus(17071778)
 From the Ark to Ararat
Bible (AD):
Young Earth
Single creation of perfect
species
Origin: Mt. Ararat, Turkey
where Ark landed Possible remains of Noahs Ark, Mt. Ararat

Linnaeus (1735):
Notes variation in form
Mountainous island center of
origin theory

Linnaeuss Mountainous Island Post Flood

 Buffon the Visionary
Georges Buffon (1761)

Noted faunistic
differences and
similarities between
regions of similar climate Georges de Buffon ca. 1760

(Buffons Law)

Fossils, extinction,
changes in species,
climate and geography

Map of Artic from Histoire Naturelle

 Continuing Exploration
Alexander von Humboldt
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

 What are patterns of distribution
of species seen across the globe?
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.
How else might we explain this
distribution without biogeography
principles??

What distributions would we expect

to see WITHOUT macroevolution??
Worlds Biomes
 What broad distribution
patterns do we actually see?
Distinct Faunas across Similar
Environments
Wallaces Faunal Regions
Distinct Floras across Similar Environments
Goods Floristic Regions
 In considering the distribution of
organic beings over the face of the
globe, the first great fact that
strikes us is, that neither the
similarity nor the dissimilarity of the
inhabitants of various regions can
be wholly accounted for by climatal
and other physical conditions.

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., Sinauer
Associates
 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 related
even across environmental gradients and lower
taxonomic groups often show narrower distributions
than higher.
 1. Similar Climate, Different Taxa

Cactaceae in North American deserts

Euphorbiaceae in southern African deserts

Courtesy of K.J. Sytsma

Geographic Barriers and Distinct Biota
More similar marine biota

Very different marine biota

3. Closely Related Taxa in Close Proximity

Wallaces Line
 Disjunctions: A Bur in Darwins Saddle

Darwin goes to great pains to show how disjunct patterns

of species distributions can be explained through
climate changes, geological changes and dispersal.
Examples:
1. Same alpine species on mountains between and
across continents result of cycles of glaciation and
migration.
2. Similarity of freshwater fish species across continents
due to flooding, twisters, birds, salt water tolerance etc.
3. Islands biota can be explained by dispersal and
previous existence of now submerged island chains.
 Vicariancevs.Dispersal
similarpattern,differentprocess
Vicariance
Erectionofocean
barrier

Divergencein
isolation
Widespreadspecies Disjunct(vicariad)species
Continuouscontinentalarea Disjunctcontinentalareas

Dispersal
Dispersalacrossocean
barrier

Divergencein
isolation

Specieslimitedtoonearea Disjunctspecies
Disjunctcontinentalareas Disjunctcontinentalareas

Courtesy of K.J. Sytsma

 Islands- Hawaii vs. Madagascar
He 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 were
not created for oceanic islands, for man has unintentionally stocked them far
more fully and perfectly than did nature.
-Darwin, The Origin of Species

Courtesy of K.J. Sytsma

 Vicariance Theory Lacking Mechanism
Other 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 cuts
the 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

Courtesy of K.J. Sytsma

 Plate TectonicsEnter Alfred Wegener
Wegener relied heavily on biogeographical evidence for defending his
controversial continental drift theory

Glossopteris Permian fern

Mesosaurus Freshwater Permian Reptile

Cynognathus Triassic land reptile

Lystrosaurus Triassic land reptile

Courtesy of K.J. Sytsma

 SouthernHemisphereTemperateFlora

35speciesoftreesandshrubs,evergreenanddeciduous,restrictedtoSouth
America,NewZealand,Australia,Tasmania,NewCaledonia,NewGuinea,
andfossilizedinAntarctica

AbsentfromAfrica!oddcontinentout

Nothofagaceae

????

Courtesy of K.J. Sytsma

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
 Species and Areas: History of Ideas
Two important scientific advances in the mid 20th century
have revolutionized historical biogeography

1. Acceptance of plate tectonics

Up until the 1960s, most persons considered
the earth's crust to be fixed. Finally, in the
1960s the geological evidence was at hand
that made continental drift irrefutable.

2. Development of new phylogenetic

methods
Willi Hennig (1950) introduced the modern
concepts of phylogenetic theory (first
published in 1956). Using this methodology,
hypotheses of historical lineages of species
could be reconstructed.

Courtesy of K.J. Sytsma

What is the ID/creationist response
to biogeography?
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 is
not led to inquire what that bond is . . . The bond
is simple inheritance.

Darwin, The Origin of Species

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 the
Struggle for Life. John Murray, London, UK.

Humphries, C.J. and L.R. Parenti. 1999. Cladistic Biogeography: Interpreting Patterns of Plant and Animal
Distributions. 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 Chicago
Press, 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