Plant Biogeography - University of...
Transcript of Plant Biogeography - University of...
Plant Biogeography Pat Lu-Irving; Biol 317
July 11, 2012
What is Biogeography?
The study of geographical distributions of organisms, both past and present
Documenting and investigating spatial and temporal patterns of biological diversity
How does biodiversity vary over the surface of the Earth?
The age of European exploration
What is Biogeography?
Ortelius’ world map, 1564
Jean Louis Leclerc (Comte de Buffon)
Karl von Linne (Carolus Linnaeus)
Alexander von Humboldt
What is Biogeography?
Linnaeus: dispersal from a center of origin
Buffon: regions of similar climate contain distinct assemblages of species (Buffon’s Law); species and climates change as organisms disperse
Humboldt: relationship between Earth history and the present and past distributions of plants
de Candolle: distinction between ecological and historical processes determining plant assemblages
Augustin P. de Candolle
Patterns of geographic variation in nature
What are the processes which result in these patterns?
Biotic assemblages vary according to climate and environment;
Environmentally similar regions that are isolated from one another have distinct biotic assemblages (Buffon’s Law)
Ecological Biogeography
Historical Biogeography
What is Biogeography?
Maple Cherry Wattle
Rhododendron Dahlia
Iris
Protea Peony
Orchid
Washington state (USA), China, Brazil, Mexico, Australia, France, Japan, South Africa, Canada
Orchid (Laelia purpurata): Brazil
Protea (Protea cynaroides): South Africa
Wattle (Acacia pycnantha): Australia
Iris (Iris latifolia): France
Peony (Paeonia suffruticosa): China
Cherry (Prunus spp.): Japan
Maple (Acer saccharum): Canada
Dahlia (Dahlia pinnata): Mexico
Rhododendron (Rhododendron macrophyllum): WA
Wattle Maple
Cherry Iris Dahlia Rhododendron Protea Peony
Orchid
Global plant diversity
WA plant biogeography
Ecological Biogeography
Short timescales, functional groups (communities), environmental constraints (niches)
How does the environment influence plant assemblages?
WA ecological biogeography
Spokane
Ellensburg Mt. Rainier
Steven’s Pass
Snoqualmie Pass Tacoma
Washington state
Google Earth
WA ecological biogeography
Alpine and subalpine: high elevation, short, cool growing
season
Shrub-steppe: sagebrush, low rainfall
Temperate rainforest: epiphytes, >2m of rainfall per year
Montane and lowland forest: forest canopy, med-low elevation, med-long growing season
WA ecological biogeography
Mean annual precipitation
NOAA Satellite and Information service 1961 - 1990
Minimum winter temperature
NOAA Satellite and Information service 1961 - 1990
Maximum summer temperature
NOAA Satellite and Information service 1961 - 1990
Shrub-steppe Lowland and montane forest
Google Earth
Alpine
Alpine Rainforest
Rainforest
WA ecological biogeography
Historical Biogeography
Long timescale, taxonomic groups (clades), biogeographic events
How do patterns in geographic distributions arise?
WA historical biogeography
Dispersal and vicariance A B C
A
B
C
A
B
C Dispersal
Vicariance
WA historical biogeography
Mesic coniferous forest of the Pacific Northwest
Climax Tsuga heterophylla and Thuja plicata; ‘cedar-hemlock’ zone
Western slopes of the Cascades, narrow band on the east, northern Rockies to Clearwater
Disjunction between same spp. In the Cascades (coast) and Rockies (inland)
WA historical biogeography
Google Earth
WA historical biogeography
Cascades
Rockies
Salix melanopsis Pinus albicaulis
Sullivan lab, U Idaho
WA historical biogeography
Dispersal or vicariance?
Dispersal
Rockies to Cascades via a northern route
Carstens et al, 2005
WA historical biogeography
Patterns in the geographic distributions of different kinds of organisms;
The processes behind those patterns:
Ecological biogeography Historical biogeography
Summary
Proof illustration entitled Characteristic Mammals of a Canadian Forest for Wallace's book The Geographical Distribution of Animals, dated 1876. British Natural History Museum.
Lomolino MV, Riddle BR, Brown JH, 2006. Biogeography (3rd Ed.) Sinauer Associates, Sunderland, MA.
Barthlott W, Mutke J, Rafiqpoor MD, Kier G, Kreft H, 2005. Global centers of vascular plant diversity. Nova Acta Leopoldina 92: 61-83.
NOAA Satellite and Information Service http://www.nesdis.noaa.gov/ Giblin, D et al. Floristic studies on the San Juan Islands. Unpublished data. National park service. http://www.nps.gov/olym/naturescience/temperate-rain-forests.htm Washington Native Plant Society. http://www.wnps.org/ecosystems/eco_system_home.htm Brunsfeld SJ, Sullivan J, Soltis DE, Soltis PS, 2001. Comparative phylogeography of Northwestern
North America: a synthesis. In: Integrating ecological and evolutionary processes in a spatial context, Blackwell Science, Oxford.
Nielson M, Lohman K, Sullivan J, 2001. Phylogeography of the tailed frog (Ascaphus truei): implications for the biogeography of the Pacific Northwest. Evolution 55(1): 147-160
Brunsfeld SJ, Miller TR, Carstens, BC, 2007. Insights into the biogeography of the Pacific Northwest of North America: evidence from the phylogeography of Salix melanopsis. Systematic Botany 32(1) 129-139
MacArthur RH, Wilson EO, 1967. The Theory of Island Biogeography. Princeton University Press, Princeton.
British Natural History Museum. http://www.naturalhistorymuseum.ac.uk/nature-online/collections-at-the-museum/wallace-collection/item.jsp?itemID=115&theme=Naturalist