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How does historical biogeography investigate the distribution of plants and animals?
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biogeographic region
Floral kingdoms, subkingdoms, and major regions of the world.
Historical biogeography investigates the distribution of plants and animals by examining how geologic events and past climatic conditions have shaped current patterns of life across the globe. Unlike studies focused solely on present-day environmental factors, this field incorporates the long-term history of Earth to explain why specific species inhabit certain regions.12
Researchers primarily utilize two complementary hypotheses to analyze these distributions:
- Dispersalist Biogeography: This view suggests that species originate in a specific center and spread outward, crossing preexisting barriers that eventually isolate them from the original population.3
- Vicariance Biogeography: This approach posits that a widespread population becomes fragmented when a new physical barrier develops, such as through continental drift. As landmasses shift, species are separated and undergo independent development.13
By integrating these perspectives, historical biogeographers can better understand how the movement of continents, ancient climate changes, and the evolution of taxa have collectively determined the modern composition of flora and fauna within various biogeographic regions.213