3. What is ZOOGEOGRAPHY?
Zoogeography is the branch of biology concerned
the distribution of animals, invertebrates and
vertebrates, the terrestrial and aquatic, over the whole
world. The vertebrates have characteristic patterns of
distribution on the land masses.
4. History
Alfred Russell Wallace, the father of zoogeography The geographical
distribution of animals basing his analysis on mammals. Includes methods of
molecular biology, genetics, morphology, phylogenetic, and Geographic
Information Systems (GIS) to exact position of evolutionary events within
defined regions of study around the globe
P.L Sclater attempted to divide the world into zoogeographical regions.
Charls Darwin collected sufficient zoological material and observation by his
famous voyage of the Beagle.
Charles lyell pointed that the present distribution of animals is conditioned by
past changes involving major landmasses.
5. Applied Zoogeography Causal Zoogeography Descriptive Zoogeography
i. Ecological Zoogeography i. Biocoenotic Zoogeography
ii. Historical Zoogeography ii. Chorology
iii. Experimental
Zoogeography
iii. Faunistic Zoogeography
iv. Systematic Zoogeography
1. Applied Zoogeography:
Applied zoogeography deals with the geographical distribution of both past and
present animals.
It Includes Medical importance, Conservation management. Economic
production. Environmental
assessment. Sustainable use of resources. Landscape planning. Public health.
BRANCHES OF ZOOGEOGRAPHY
6. 2. Casual Zoogeography:
In casual Zoogeography we try to find the causes
that are or have been effective to bring about the type of animal
distributaries actually found in the present day”.
a. Ecological Zoogeography:
Ecological zoogeography attempts to understand and determine the role of the present
biotic and abiotic interactions that affect the distribution of a particular group of
animals.
7. b. Historical Zoogeography:
“it concerned with historical reconstruction of the origin, dispersal and
extinction of taxa”. It aims to understand the past distribution of animals
that led to their present day pattern. Thus, it includes and makes use of
geography, geological history, evolutionary theories, physiography, climate,
etc.
c. Experimental Zoogeography:
The study of the procedures that have been used to study origin, extinction
and dispersal of animals.
8. 3. DESCRIPTIVE ZOOGEOGRAPHY:
Descriptive Zoogeography: Study of animals and their
habitats. It integrates the information on the historical and
current ecology, physiology, and genetics of organisms.
Systematic Zoogeography: “It is the biological study of
geographical distribution of large groups of animals
especially the cause and effects of such distribution”.
9. b. Chorology Zoogeography: Chorology comes from two Greek word Choro
means “space” and logia means to “study”. The study of the geographical
ranges of animals. Chorology looks at causal relations between geographical
phenomena occurring within a particular region and the study of the spatial
distribution of organisms.
c. Faunistics zoogeography: “ Faunistics is the study of discovery of new species
and their distribution. Baseline Faunistics data include records of species in a
given area, times when they are present, and habitat associations. These data
are important for identifying areas that harbor unique assemblages and
monitoring changes in ecosystems over time.
10. d. BIOCOENOTIC ZOOGEOGRAPHY:
e. This branch describes all the interacting organism living
together in a specific habitat or geographical area, which is
limited by the requirement of more or less association of living
creation in certain area.” Biotic community, biological
community, and ecological community are more common
synonyms of biocenosis, all of which represent the same
concept.
