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86-755: The Saracá-Taquera National Forest is in the Amazon biome . It has an area of 441,282.63 hectares (1,090,433.1 acres). It covers parts of the municipalities of Faro , Oriximiná and Terra Santa in the state of Pará. The forest is adjacent to the Rio Trombetas Biological Reserve . It is accessed via Porto Trombetas on the left bank of the Trombetas and via Faro and Terra Santa on the Nhamundá . Altitudes are from 100 to 350 metres (330 to 1,150 ft) above sea level. Average annual rainfall

172-476: A combination of historical factors such as: speciation , extinction , continental drift , and glaciation . Through observing the geographic distribution of species, we can see associated variations in sea level , river routes, habitat, and river capture . Additionally, this science considers the geographic constraints of landmass areas and isolation, as well as the available ecosystem energy supplies. Over periods of ecological changes, biogeography includes

258-421: A global scale. GIS can show certain processes on the earth's surface like whale locations, sea surface temperatures , and bathymetry. Current scientists also use coral reefs to delve into the history of biogeography through the fossilized reefs. Two global information systems are either dedicated to, or have strong focus on, biogeography (in the form of the spatial location of observations of organisms), namely

344-419: A great impact on Charles Darwin , who was inspired to consider species adaptations and evolution after learning about botanical geography. De Candolle was the first to describe the differences between the small-scale and large-scale distribution patterns of organisms around the globe. Several additional scientists contributed new theories to further develop the concept of biogeography. Charles Lyell developed

430-962: A large area of this habitat. Of the 1,149 federal and state protected areas in Brazil in 2014, 247 covering 1,100,000 square kilometres (420,000 sq mi) were in the Amazon biome and accounted for 73% of the total area protected at the federal and state levels in Brazil. Federal units covered 587,000 square kilometres (227,000 sq mi) and state units covered 523,000 square kilometres (202,000 sq mi). These included fully protected national and state parks (22%), ecological stations (9%), biological reserves (4%) and wildlife refuges as well as sustainable use national and state forests (26%), environmental protection areas (17%), extractive reserves (12%), sustainable development reserves (10%),and areas of ecological interest . More than 15,000 square kilometres (5,800 sq mi) of

516-413: A number of methods have been developed to produce arguably more complete "predictive" or "modelled" distributions for species based on their associated environmental or other preferences (such as availability of food or other habitat requirements); this approach is known as either Environmental niche modelling (ENM) or Species distribution modelling (SDM). Depending on the reliability of the source data and

602-987: A result of tectonic uplift (or subsidence ), natural damming created by a landslide , or headward or lateral erosion of the watershed between adjacent basins. Biogeography is a synthetic science, related to geography , biology , soil science , geology , climatology , ecology and evolution . Some fundamental concepts in biogeography include: The study of comparative biogeography can follow two main lines of investigation: There are many types of biogeographic units used in biogeographic regionalisation schemes, as there are many criteria ( species composition , physiognomy , ecological aspects) and hierarchization schemes: biogeographic realms (ecozones), bioregions ( sensu stricto ), ecoregions , zoogeographical regions , floristic regions , vegetation types, biomes , etc. The terms biogeographic unit, biogeographic area can be used for these categories, regardless of rank. In 2008, an International Code of Area Nomenclature

688-666: A similar scope, where the Amazon biome includes the Guiana Shield rain forests in the north and the Chiquitano dry forests of Bolivia. The biome covers parts of Brazil, Bolivia, Peru, Ecuador, Colombia, Venezuela, Guyana, Suriname and French Guiana. In Brazil the biome covers more than 4,100,000 square kilometres (1,600,000 sq mi) and covers all or parts of the states of Acre , Amazonas , Roraima , Rondônia , Pará , Amapá , Maranhão , Tocantins and Mato Grosso . The Amazon biome covers 49.29% of Brazil. 16% of

774-434: A total area of 48,000 hectares (120,000 acres) were sold by auction in 2009. Bauxite ore has been extracted since 1976, and the decree that created the forest allowed this to continue. Bauxite extraction is undertaken by Mineração Rio do Norte. Amazon biome The Amazon biome ( Portuguese : Bioma Amazônia ) contains the Amazon rainforest , an area of tropical rainforest , and other ecoregions that cover most of

860-492: A whole suite of predictor variables for biogeographic analysis, including satellite imaging and processing of the Earth. Two main types of satellite imaging that are important within modern biogeography are Global Production Efficiency Model (GLO-PEM) and Geographic Information Systems (GIS). GLO-PEM uses satellite-imaging gives "repetitive, spatially contiguous, and time specific observations of vegetation". These observations are on

946-546: Is 2,141 millimetres (84.3 in). Temperatures range from 26 to 32 °C (79 to 90 °F) with an average of 27 °C (81 °F). The national forest lies in the basins of the Trombetas and Nhamundá rivers, within the Amazon River basin. About 10% of the area is covered by plateaus with flat tops and generally steep slopes, while the remainder is slightly undulating lowlands cut by many streams and flooded when

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1032-424: Is an alternate view than that of Linnaeus. Buffon's law eventually became a principle of biogeography by explaining how similar environments were habitats for comparable types of organisms. Buffon also studied fossils which led him to believe that the Earth was over tens of thousands of years old, and that humans had not lived there long in comparison to the age of the Earth. Following the period of exploration came

1118-517: Is carried by winds from the Atlantic, and the other half from evapotranspiration within the biome. There are wide variations in total rainfall and distribution of rainfall throughout the year. The Amazon watershed covers about 5,846,100 square kilometres (2,257,200 sq mi). The Amazon River accounts for 15–16% of the total water discharged by rivers into the oceans of the world. Rivers may be blackwater , whitewater or clearwater. Thus

1204-433: Is classed as IUCN protected area category VI (protected area with sustainable use of natural resources) with the objective of sustainable multiple use of forest resources and scientific research, with emphasis on methods for sustainable exploitation of native forests. The area has great potential for renewable natural resources include wood, nuts and other non-wood products, and also has bauxite deposits. Two 40-year leases on

1290-536: Is distinguished as being completely treeless. The term "campinarana" is used for the transition between campina and the rainforest. Campinarana is found in isolated areas of the Rio Negro and Rio Branco basins in the north of Brazil. Patches of campinarana, which may cover several thousand square kilometres, are found in the transitional region from the Guyana Shield to the Amazon basin. Campinarana

1376-614: Is endemic. The Saracá-Taquera National Forest was created by decree 98.704 of 27 December 1989 and is administered by the Chico Mendes Institute for Biodiversity Conservation (ICMBio). Since 2002 management of the Rio Trombetas Biological Reserve and the national forest has been combined. The management plan for the forest was approved in 2002 and allows about 154,000 hectares (380,000 acres) to be used for sustainable forestry. The forest

1462-404: Is in the geological similarities between varying locations around the globe, the geographic distribution of some fossils (including the mesosaurs ) on various continents, and the jigsaw puzzle shape of the landmasses on Earth. Though Wegener did not know the mechanism of this concept of Continental Drift, this contribution to the study of biogeography was significant in the way that it shed light on

1548-473: Is on how the environment and humans affect the distribution of species as well as other manifestations of Life such as species or genetic diversity. Biogeography is being applied to biodiversity conservation and planning, projecting global environmental changes on species and biomes, projecting the spread of infectious diseases, invasive species, and for supporting planning for the establishment of crops. Technological evolving and advances have allowed for generating

1634-413: Is open forest on sandy soil where sunlight can reach the ground. More than half the species of orchid in the Amazon lowlands are found in this type of forest. The terms campina and campinarana both describe white sand savannas that are very poor in nutrients. They may be flooded periodically or seasonally, in which case the roots suffer from lack of aeration. The vegetation is stunted. For some, campina

1720-917: Is similar to the Rio Negro Campinarana. The Northeastern Brazil restingas are coastal dune habitats that extend along the coast of northeastern Brazil, interspersed with lagoons, mangroves and patches of caatinga savanna. The land behind the dunes may include dwarf palms, bromeliads, ferns, shrubs, grasses and scrub trees. The more exposed areas mainly hold medium-tall grasses and scrub trees, while sheltered areas hold patches of cactus and low dry thicket. Fauna include marmosets and jaguarundis , proboscis bats , lesser sac-winged bats , bulldog bats , and Davy's naked-backed bats , wood stork , roseate spoonbill , white-necked heron , great egret , cattle egret , black-crowned night heron , and Neotropic cormorant . The ecoregion has various endemic species. The Lençóis Maranhenses National Park protects

1806-577: Is the branch that studies distribution of fungi, such as mushrooms . Knowledge of spatial variation in the numbers and types of organisms is as vital to us today as it was to our early human ancestors , as we adapt to heterogeneous but geographically predictable environments . Biogeography is an integrative field of inquiry that unites concepts and information from ecology , evolutionary biology , taxonomy , geology , physical geography , palaeontology , and climatology . Modern biogeographic research combines information and ideas from many fields, from

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1892-445: Is the study of the distribution of species and ecosystems in geographic space and through geological time . Organisms and biological communities often vary in a regular fashion along geographic gradients of latitude , elevation , isolation and habitat area . Phytogeography is the branch of biogeography that studies the distribution of plants. Zoogeography is the branch that studies distribution of animals. Mycogeography

1978-479: Is typically found on leached white sands around circular swampy depressions in lowland tropical moist forest. The soil is low in nutrients, with highly acidic humus. Campinarana includes savannah, scrub and forests. The savannah is mainly composed of grasses and lichens, found in the wet plains beside lakes and rivers. The scrub has bare sand, herbaceous plants, shrubs and trees less than 7 metres (23 ft) high. The nutrient-poor Japurá-Solimões-Negro moist forest

2064-614: The Age of Enlightenment in Europe, which attempted to explain the patterns of biodiversity observed by Buffon and Linnaeus. At the birth of the 19th century, Alexander von Humboldt, known as the "founder of plant geography", developed the concept of physique generale to demonstrate the unity of science and how species fit together. As one of the first to contribute empirical data to the science of biogeography through his travel as an explorer, he observed differences in climate and vegetation. The Earth

2150-479: The Amazon basin and some adjacent areas to the north and east. The biome contains blackwater and whitewater flooded forest, lowland and montane terra firma forest , bamboo and palm forest, savanna, sandy heath and alpine tundra. Some areas of the biome are threatened by deforestation for timber and to make way for pasture or soybean plantations. The Amazon biome has an area of 6,700,000 square kilometres (2,600,000 sq mi). The biome roughly corresponds to

2236-713: The Global Biodiversity Information Facility (GBIF: 2.57 billion species occurrence records reported as at August 2023) and, for marine species only, the Ocean Biodiversity Information System (OBIS, originally the Ocean Biogeographic Information System : 116 million species occurrence records reported as at August 2023), while at a national scale, similar compilations of species occurrence records also exist such as

2322-513: The Rio Negro ("Black River") has clear, jet-black water caused by decomposition of organic matter in swamps along its margins, combined with low levels of silt. The Rio Branco ("White River") and the Amazon itself have yellowish waters loaded with silt. The Tahuayo River in the Tamshiyacu Tahuayo Regional Conservation Area of Peru is classed as a blackwater river, but often has similar chemistry to

2408-548: The phosphorus necessary for life is blown by the wind from Africa; as diatomeous dust from the Bodélé Depression and as smoke due to biomass burning in Africa. There are wide regional variations in soil types. Thus 20% of the Rio Negro basin is covered by podzols and 55% by acrisols and ferralsols , with the remainder covered by alluvial and litholic soils and scattered areas of hydromorphic plinthosols . In

2494-454: The 1,300 bird species 20% are endemic and 8.4% are endangered. A relatively small area may contain a variety of ecoregions. Thus the Pico da Neblina National Park in the north of Amazonas, Brazil contains campinarana , dense rainforest and contact between campinarana and rainforest. The vegetation formations include terra firme forests and igapós . Submontane forests climb the first steps of

2580-479: The 36 volume Histoire Naturelle, générale et particulière , in which he argued that varying geographical regions would have different forms of life. This was inspired by his observations comparing the Old and New World, as he determined distinct variations of species from the two regions. Buffon believed there was a single species creation event, and that different regions of the world were homes for varying species, which

2666-421: The 53 ecosystems, of which 19 are forests with 77.5% of the area. The borders of the biome hold ecotones where it blends into other biomes such as the cerrado. Within and across the ecosystems of the biome there is huge biological diversity. One source says there are an estimated 60,000 plant species, of which 30,000 are endemic. Another says there are 30,000 to 50,000 plant species. The Brazilian Ministry of

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2752-428: The 6,700,000 to 6,900,000 square kilometres (2,600,000 to 2,700,000 sq mi) Amazon biome. The somewhat vague numbers are because the rainforest merges into similar biomes across its boundaries. The rainforest is Tropical Broadleaf Forest , so-called because most of the trees have broad leaves. The basin also holds flooded riparian forest or várzea , seasonal forest and savanna . Seasonal forest covers much of

2838-456: The Amazon basin, Orinoco basin, and Guianas ) with an exceptionally low (flat) topographic relief, the many waterways have had a highly reticulated history over geological time . In such a context, stream capture is an important factor affecting the evolution and distribution of freshwater organisms. Stream capture occurs when an upstream portion of one river drainage is diverted to the downstream portion of an adjacent basin. This can happen as

2924-601: The Amazon basin, but excludes areas of the Andes to the west and cerrado (savannah) to the south, and includes lands to the northeast extending to the Atlantic ocean with similar vegetation to the Amazon basin. J. J. Morrone (2006) defines the Amazonian subregion in this broader sense, divided into the biogeographical provinces of Guyana, Humid Guyana, Napo, Imeri, Roraima, Amapá, Várzea, Ucayali, Madeira, Tapajós-Xingu, Pará, Yungas and Pantanal. The World Wildlife Fund takes

3010-576: The Brazilian Amazon biome was deforested in 2008–12, of which only 6% took place within protected areas. 71% of federal and state protected areas in Brazil suffered no deforestation in this period. Although the World Economic Forum ranks Brazil first in the world in terms of nature tourism potential, the country is 52nd in tourism competitiveness when factors such as infrastructure are considered. Low public use, in part due to

3096-470: The Environment as of January 2013 listed 2,500 species of trees and 30,000 species of plants. There are 1,400 species of fish, 163 amphibians, 387 reptiles and more than 500 mammals including 90 primates. 87% of the amphibians, 62% of reptiles, 20% of birds and 25% of mammals are endemic to the biome. 109 species of lizards and amphisbaena reptiles are known to be present, and 138 species of snakes. Of

3182-745: The Guiana Plateau to about 1,000 metres (3,300 ft), followed by montane forests. Lichens and bromeliads are found up to 2,000 metres (6,600 ft). There is also alpine tundra in the tabular plateaus. The Amazon basin contains several large areas of moist forest, collectively called the Amazon rainforest. These are the Caquetá , Japurá–Solimões–Negro , Juruá–Purus , Madeira–Tapajós , Napo , Purus–Madeira , Solimões–Japurá , Southwest Amazon , Tapajós–Xingu , Tocantins–Araguaia–Maranhão , Uatuma–Trombetas , Ucayali , and Xingu–Tocantins–Araguaia moist forests. Each has distinctive vegetation. In

3268-622: The Gurupa Arch to the west of Marajó . Under the Paleoarch model, paleobasins between the arches form centers for biological diversification. Thus the Iquitos arch is considered the main reason for the different species of frogs and rodents and different forest types on either side of the ridge. The soil is generally very poor in nutrients, and areas that have been deforested are often unsuitable for agriculture or pasture. A large part of

3354-597: The Gómez Farias Region, Tamaulipas, Mexico , which has been described as "ground-breaking" and "a classic treatise in historical biogeography". Martin applied several disciplines including ecology , botany , climatology , geology , and Pleistocene dispersal routes to examine the herpetofauna of a relatively small and largely undisturbed area, but ecologically complex, situated on the threshold of temperate – tropical (nearctic and neotropical) regions, including semiarid lowlands at 70 meters elevation and

3440-566: The Indian Ocean was much narrower than it is today, and that South America was closer to the Antarctic, one would be hard pressed to explain the presence of many "ancient" lineages of perching birds in Africa, as well as the mainly South American distribution of the suboscines . Paleobiogeography also helps constrain hypotheses on the timing of biogeographic events such as vicariance and geodispersal , and provides unique information on

3526-452: The Origin of Species were devoted to geographical distribution. The first discoveries that contributed to the development of biogeography as a science began in the mid-18th century, as Europeans explored the world and described the biodiversity of life. During the 18th century most views on the world were shaped around religion and for many natural theologists, the bible. Carl Linnaeus , in

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3612-557: The Tapajós, while the white-nosed saki ( Chiropotes albinasus ) is only found east of the river. The World Wildlife Fund divides the biome into ecoregions , often defined as the regions lying between major tributaries of the Amazon. Most of the interior of the Amazon basin is covered by rainforest. The dense tropical Amazon rainforest is the largest tropical rainforest in the world. It covers between 5,500,000 and 6,200,000 square kilometres (2,100,000 and 2,400,000 sq mi) of

3698-482: The Theory of Continental Drift in 1912, though it was not widely accepted until the 1960s. This theory was revolutionary because it changed the way that everyone thought about species and their distribution around the globe. The theory explained how continents were formerly joined in one large landmass, Pangea , and slowly drifted apart due to the movement of the plates below Earth's surface. The evidence for this theory

3784-603: The Theory of Uniformitarianism after studying fossils. This theory explained how the world was not created by one sole catastrophic event, but instead from numerous creation events and locations. Uniformitarianism also introduced the idea that the Earth was actually significantly older than was previously accepted. Using this knowledge, Lyell concluded that it was possible for species to go extinct. Since he noted that Earth's climate changes, he realized that species distribution must also change accordingly. Lyell argued that climate changes complemented vegetation changes, thus connecting

3870-738: The Trombetas spreads over its banks in the rainy season. The Nhamundá River, which forms the border between the states of Pará and Amazonas , has a sandy bottom and clear waters with several waterfalls in its upper reaches. The streams in the forest that feed the Nhamundá are the Taquera, Jamari, Teófilo and Araticum. The main streams in the Trombetas basin in the national forest are the Papagaio, Água Fria, Moura, Jamari, Ajará, Terra Preta and Saracá. The river reaches its highest levels in April and May, since

3956-639: The U.K. National Biodiversity Network , the Atlas of Living Australia , and many others. In the case of the oceans, in 2017 Costello et al. analyzed the distribution of 65,000 species of marine animals and plants as then documented in OBIS, and used the results to distinguish 30 distinct marine realms, split between continental-shelf and offshore deep-sea areas. Since it is self evident that compilations of species occurrence records cannot cover with any completeness, areas that have received either limited or no sampling,

4042-414: The anticipated effects of climate change can also be used to show potential changes in species distributions that may occur in the future based on such scenarios. Paleobiogeography goes one step further to include paleogeographic data and considerations of plate tectonics . Using molecular analyses and corroborated by fossils , it has been possible to demonstrate that perching birds evolved first in

4128-430: The biome as a whole podzols cover just 136,000 square kilometres (53,000 sq mi), or 2.7% of the area. In Brazil the average temperature of the biome is 22 to 26 °C (72 to 79 °F) and average rainfall is 2,300 millimetres (91 in), but there are wide variations from one region to another. The biome as a whole has annual rainfall from 1,500 to 3,000 millimetres (59 to 118 in), about half of which

4214-456: The biome is in Peru. As of 2015 about 23.4% of Peru's Amazon biome was protected, but of this less than half was fully protected. Much of the terrain of the Amazon biome, particularly around the rivers, is lowland plains. The Guiana Shield is an area of highlands along the border between Brazil and Venezuela and Guyana. The southern Amazonian highlands cross parts of Rondonia and Mato Grosso and

4300-421: The biotic and abiotic features of the Earth in his book, Cosmos . Augustin de Candolle contributed to the field of biogeography as he observed species competition and the several differences that influenced the discovery of the diversity of life. He was a Swiss botanist and created the first Laws of Botanical Nomenclature in his work, Prodromus. He discussed plant distribution and his theories eventually had

4386-800: The broad definition favored by the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) the Amazon biome would also include the Tepuis , table-top mountains with unique vegetation, the Negro-Branco , Guianan Highlands , Guianan piedmont and lowland and Guianan moist forests and the Guianan savanna . In the southwest Amazon at least 161,500 square kilometres (62,400 sq mi) of forest are dominated by bamboos . These occur in areas where there has been recent tectonic uplift combined with fast mechanical erosion and poor drainage. In each patch of bamboos all

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4472-475: The development of biogeography as a science. The scientific theory of biogeography grows out of the work of Alexander von Humboldt (1769–1859), Francisco Jose de Caldas (1768–1816), Hewett Cottrell Watson (1804–1881), Alphonse de Candolle (1806–1893), Alfred Russel Wallace (1823–1913), Philip Lutley Sclater (1829–1913) and other biologists and explorers. The patterns of species distribution across geographical areas can usually be explained through

4558-420: The development of the fields of conservation biology and landscape ecology . Classic biogeography has been expanded by the development of molecular systematics , creating a new discipline known as phylogeography . This development allowed scientists to test theories about the origin and dispersal of populations, such as island endemics . For example, while classic biogeographers were able to speculate about

4644-504: The environmental surroundings to varying species. This largely influenced Charles Darwin in his development of the theory of evolution. Charles Darwin was a natural theologist who studied around the world, and most importantly in the Galapagos Islands . Darwin introduced the idea of natural selection, as he theorized against previously accepted ideas that species were static or unchanging. His contributions to biogeography and

4730-597: The factors affecting organism distribution, and to predict future trends in organism distribution. Often mathematical models and GIS are employed to solve ecological problems that have a spatial aspect to them. Biogeography is most keenly observed on the world's islands . These habitats are often much more manageable areas of study because they are more condensed than larger ecosystems on the mainland. Islands are also ideal locations because they allow scientists to look at habitats that new invasive species have only recently colonized and can observe how they disperse throughout

4816-458: The formation of regional biotas. For example, data from species-level phylogenetic and biogeographic studies tell us that the Amazonian teleost fauna accumulated in increments over a period of tens of millions of years, principally by means of allopatric speciation, and in an arena extending over most of the area of tropical South America (Albert & Reis 2011). In other words, unlike some of

4902-483: The former Lifemapper project at the University of Kansas (now continued as a part of BiotaPhy ) and AquaMaps , which as at 2023 contain modelled distributions for around 200,000 terrestrial, and 33,000 species of teleosts , marine mammals and invertebrates, respectively. One advantage of ENM/SDM is that in addition to showing current (or even past) modelled distributions, insertion of changed parameters such as

4988-655: The geographical distribution of organisms around the globe. Alfred Russel Wallace studied the distribution of flora and fauna in the Amazon Basin and the Malay Archipelago in the mid-19th century. His research was essential to the further development of biogeography, and he was later nicknamed the "father of Biogeography". Wallace conducted fieldwork researching the habits, breeding and migration tendencies, and feeding behavior of thousands of species. He studied butterfly and bird distributions in comparison to

5074-411: The importance of environmental and geographic similarities or differences as a result of climate and other pressures on the planet. Importantly, late in his career Wegener recognised that testing his theory required measurement of continental movement rather than inference from fossils species distributions. In 1958 paleontologist Paul S. Martin published A Biogeography of Reptiles and Amphibians in

5160-624: The inaccessibility of the Amazon national and federal parks, mean that they fail to support the local economies and therefore lack support from society, especially the local communities. The national and state forests have low levels of formal sustainable logging contracts, the Tapajós National Forest in Pará being an exception. Brazil has strong systems for monitoring land cover and deforestation, but as of 2014 64% of managers of protected areas said they had not monitored biodiversity in

5246-559: The island and change it. They can then apply their understanding to similar but more complex mainland habitats. Islands are very diverse in their biomes , ranging from the tropical to arctic climates. This diversity in habitat allows for a wide range of species study in different parts of the world. One scientist who recognized the importance of these geographic locations was Charles Darwin , who remarked in his journal "The Zoology of Archipelagoes will be well worth examination". Two chapters in On

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5332-474: The local people and many scientists called the permanently waterlogged swamp on the lower Amazon " igapó " and all types of periodically flooded land " várzea ". A more recent definition, from Prance, is: Major flooded areas include the Iquitos , Purus , Monte Alegre , Gurupa and Marajó várzeas. The Majaró várzea is at the mouth of the Amazon and is affected by both freshwater and tidal flows. Campina

5418-488: The mid-18th century, improved our classifications of organisms through the exploration of undiscovered territories by his students and disciples. When he noticed that species were not as perpetual as he believed, he developed the Mountain Explanation to explain the distribution of biodiversity; when Noah's ark landed on Mount Ararat and the waters receded, the animals dispersed throughout different elevations on

5504-515: The most important and consequential developments in biogeography has been to show how multiple organisms, including mammals like monkeys and reptiles like squamates , overcame barriers such as large oceans that many biogeographers formerly believed were impossible to cross. See also Oceanic dispersal . Biogeography now incorporates many different fields including but not limited to physical geography, geology, botany and plant biology, zoology, general biology, and modelling. A biogeographer's main focus

5590-505: The mountain. This showed different species in different climates proving species were not constant. Linnaeus' findings set a basis for ecological biogeography. Through his strong beliefs in Christianity, he was inspired to classify the living world, which then gave way to additional accounts of secular views on geographical distribution. He argued that the structure of an animal was very closely related to its physical surroundings. This

5676-683: The nature of the models employed (including the scales for which data are available), maps generated from such models may then provide better representations of the "real" biogeographic distributions of either individual species, groups of species, or biodiversity as a whole, however it should also be borne in mind that historic or recent human activities (such as hunting of great whales , or other human-induced exterminations) may have altered present-day species distributions from their potential "full" ecological footprint. Examples of predictive maps produced by niche modelling methods based on either GBIF (terrestrial) or OBIS (marine, plus some freshwater) data are

5762-476: The northernmost cloud forest in the western hemisphere at over 2200 meters. The publication of The Theory of Island Biogeography by Robert MacArthur and E.O. Wilson in 1967 showed that the species richness of an area could be predicted in terms of such factors as habitat area, immigration rate and extinction rate. This added to the long-standing interest in island biogeography . The application of island biogeography theory to habitat fragments spurred

5848-583: The origins of species in the Hawaiian Islands , phylogeography allows them to test theories of relatedness between these populations and putative source populations on various continents, notably in Asia and North America . Biogeography continues as a point of study for many life sciences and geography students worldwide, however it may be under different broader titles within institutions such as ecology or evolutionary biology. In recent years, one of

5934-495: The physiological and ecological constraints on organismal dispersal to geological and climatological phenomena operating at global spatial scales and evolutionary time frames. The short-term interactions within a habitat and species of organisms describe the ecological application of biogeography. Historical biogeography describes the long-term, evolutionary periods of time for broader classifications of organisms. Early scientists, beginning with Carl Linnaeus , contributed to

6020-462: The plants flower every 27–28 years, producing huge numbers of seeds, before dying. The Chandless State Park is in the centre of the bamboo forest region of the south western Amazon biome, and has three endemic species of the Guadua genus of bamboo. Vegetation is classified as forest with palms, forest with bamboo, alluvial forest with bamboo and dense forest. Before Ghillean Prance 's 1979 study,

6106-448: The presence or absence of geographical barriers. His observations led him to conclude that the number of organisms present in a community was dependent on the amount of food resources in the particular habitat. Wallace believed species were dynamic by responding to biotic and abiotic factors. He and Philip Sclater saw biogeography as a source of support for the theory of evolution as they used Darwin's conclusion to explain how biogeography

6192-472: The previous five years, and more than half said they did not have tools to monitor social and environmental development. The " Arc of Deforestation " is in the eastern and southern borders of the biome. As of 2006 about 16% of the Amazon biome in Brazil had been deforested. Satellite images show that in the 2006–11 period total deforestation in the Amazon biome was 45,100 square kilometres (17,400 sq mi), of which 34,700 hectares (86,000 acres) were in

6278-531: The properties produced 78.09% of the crop in the cerrado biome, while 37.45% produced 21.91% of the crop in the Amazon biome. In 2000 the Brazilian government banned creation of sugarcane plantations in the Amazon biome. In 2010 a presidential decree made low-interest credit available to oil palm development, but only on land that had been deforested before 2008. This may prove an environmentally sustainable economic solution. Biogeography Biogeography

6364-420: The rainy season usually peaks in April. Dense rainforest covers 94.1% of the national forest. Fluvial pioneer formations cover 2.7% and 0.2% is campinarana . Areas that have suffered from human activity account for 2% of the total. Migratory birds include collared plover (Charadrius collaris), osprey (Pandion haliaetus) and large-billed tern (Phaetusa simplex). The glossy antshrike (Sakesphorus luctuosus)

6450-420: The region of Australia or the adjacent Antarctic (which at that time lay somewhat further north and had a temperate climate). From there, they spread to the other Gondwanan continents and Southeast Asia – the part of Laurasia then closest to their origin of dispersal – in the late Paleogene , before achieving a global distribution in the early Neogene . Not knowing that at the time of dispersal,

6536-524: The southeast border, with marked dry seasons when there are frequent fires. The Amazon biome contains areas of other types of vegetation including grasslands, swamps, bamboos, and palm forests. There are 53 major ecosystems and more than 600 types of land and freshwater habitat . Of the ecosystems, 34 are forest areas covering 78% of the biome, 6 are Andean covering 1.5%, 5 are floodplains covering 5.83%, 5 are savanna covering 12.75% and two are tropical steppes covering 1.89%. The Brazilian Amazon holds 30 of

6622-698: The southern parts of Amazonas and Para. The Amazon basin is crossed by ridges or "paleoarches" that connect the Guiana and Central Brazil shields and divide it into geological sub-basins. They are the Iquitos or Jutai Arch in Peru and Acre , the Carauari Arch across the Rio Negro and Solimões , the Purus Arch to the west of Manaus , the Monte Alegre Arch to the west of the Tapajós and

6708-617: The soybean farms in the Amazonia Legal mostly occupy cerrado areas, not the Amazon biome. A statement by Cargill in 2006 said, "Soy occupies less than 0.6 percent of the land in the Amazon biome today, and most of that soy is grown on the fringes of the Amazon biome in the transitional area between the Cerrado and the forest. A 2010 assessment of soybean farmers associated with the Grupo André Maggi found that 62.55% of

6794-428: The study of plant and animal species in: their past and/or present living refugium habitat ; their interim living sites; and/or their survival locales. As writer David Quammen put it, "...biogeography does more than ask Which species? and Where . It also asks Why? and, what is sometimes more crucial, Why not? ." Modern biogeography often employs the use of Geographic Information Systems (GIS), to understand

6880-416: The theory of evolution were different from those of other explorers of his time, because he developed a mechanism to describe the ways that species changed. His influential ideas include the development of theories regarding the struggle for existence and natural selection. Darwin's theories started a biological segment to biogeography and empirical studies, which enabled future scientists to develop ideas about

6966-581: The three soy-producing states of Mato Grosso, Para and Rondonia. A 2009 survey showed that of 620 recently deforested areas 203, or 32%, had been converted to pasture while 12, or less than 1%, were being used for soybeans. The biome is not the same as the Amazônia Legal , which covers a larger area of Brazil. The Amazon biome covers about 82% of the Legal Amazon if cerrado and campinarana are excluded. Defenders of soybean farming point out that

7052-447: The well-known insular faunas ( Galapagos finches , Hawaiian drosophilid flies, African rift lake cichlids ), the species-rich Amazonian ichthyofauna is not the result of recent adaptive radiations . For freshwater organisms, landscapes are divided naturally into discrete drainage basins by watersheds , episodically isolated and reunited by erosional processes. In regions like the Amazon Basin (or more generally Greater Amazonia,

7138-517: The whitewater rivers of the region since it is in the Amazon River floodplain, and receives water from the Amazon. The Amazon and its major tributaries such as the Xingu , Tapajós , Madeira , Purus and Rio Negro form barriers to the geodispersal of plants, animals and even insects. Thus the white-fronted capuchin ( Cebus albifrons ) and hairy saki ( Pithecia hirsuta ) are found west of

7224-400: Was divided into regions which he defined as tropical, temperate, and arctic and within these regions there were similar forms of vegetation. This ultimately enabled him to create the isotherm, which allowed scientists to see patterns of life within different climates. He contributed his observations to findings of botanical geography by previous scientists, and sketched this description of both

7310-529: Was important to a George Louis Buffon's rival theory of distribution. Closely after Linnaeus, Georges-Louis Leclerc, Comte de Buffon observed shifts in climate and how species spread across the globe as a result. He was the first to see different groups of organisms in different regions of the world. Buffon saw similarities between some regions which led him to believe that at one point continents were connected and then water separated them and caused differences in species. His hypotheses were described in his work,

7396-502: Was similar to a record of species inheritance. Key findings, such as the sharp difference in fauna either side of the Wallace Line , and the sharp difference that existed between North and South America prior to their relatively recent faunal interchange , can only be understood in this light. Otherwise, the field of biogeography would be seen as a purely descriptive one. Moving on to the 20th century, Alfred Wegener introduced

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