NAME: ZAINAB BATOOL

ROLL NO:01
SUBJECT: ZOOGEOGRAPHY
TOPIC: INTRODUCTION TO ZOOGEOGRAPHY
SUBMITTED TO: DR AKBER KHAN
INSTITUTE OF ZOOLOGY
Zoogeography:
A branch of biogeography concerned with the geographic distribution of animals
and especially with the determination of the areas characterized by specific
groups of animals and the study of the causes and significance of such groups

ASPECTS OF ZOOGEOGRAPHY
As a multifaceted field of study, zoogeography incorporates methods of molecular
biology, genetics, morphology, phylogenetics, and Geographic Information
Systems (GIS) to delineate evolutionary events within defined regions of study
around the globe. Once proposed by Alfred Russel Wallace, known to be the
father of zoogeography, phylogenetic affinities can be quantified among
zoogeographic regions, further elucidating the phenomena surrounding
geographic distributions of organisms and explaining evolutionary relationships of
taxa.[2]
Advancements in molecular biology and theory of evolution within zoological
research has unraveled questions concerning speciation events and has expanded
phylogenic relationships amongst taxa.] Integration of phylogenetics with GIS
provides a means for communicating evolutionary origins through cartographic
design. Related research linking phylogenetics and GIS has been conducted in
areas of the southern Atlantic, Mediterranean, and Pacific Oceans. Recent
innovations in DNA bar-coding, for example, have allowed for explanations of
phylogenetic relationships within two families of marine venomous
fishes, scorpaenidae and tetraodontidae, residing in the Andaman
Sea.[4] Continued efforts to understand species evolutionary divergence
articulated in the geologic time scale based on fossil records for killifish
(Aphanius and Aphanolebias) in locales.
TYPES OF ZOOGEOGRAPHY:
1.ECOLOGICAL ZOOGEOGRAPHY
2.HISTORICAL ZOOGEOGRAPHY

1. What Is Ecological Zoogeography?

Biogeography studies the patterns of distribution of biological systems,
processes or characteristics at several spatial and temporal scales. Spatial
scales under analysis span over a wide range, including genes, organisms or
groups of organisms and ecosystems or biomes. Likewise, temporal scales
examined in biogeography also vary greatly. Temporal patterns relevant for
biogeographical studies span from million years to seasonal movements.
Large-scale phenomena such as continental drifts, today explained by
modern plate tectonics, have had undoubtedly a huge effect on biodiversity
patterns and species distributions, both those currently observed and those
occurred in the past and inferred from fossils. Macroevolutionary patterns,
mass extinctions or adaptive radiations leading to many taxonomical
groups can only be interpreted when a long temporal scale is considered.
Today we also know that evolutionary processes can be much faster than
previously thought; besides, on smaller scales distributional patterns of
organisms are often influenced by changes occurred in historical times
(such as e.g. land use change, or current human-driven climate change), or
natural cycles covering short times such as seasonal or daily migrations.
Classically, biogeography is split into two main branches, historical
biogeography and ecological biogeography (Cox and Moore, 2010)

2. Ecogeographical “Rules”:
One of the most intriguing aspects of biogeography is represented by the
recurrence of patterns concerning animal distribution or morphology which may
be linked with factors such as latitude, altitude or climate. The fact that such
patterns are found in a range of different organisms has often been interpreted
as a general law, leading to the formulation of “rules”. However, when such
rules were first proposed they relied on little empirical evidence, so that over
time they have been questioned, corrected or revisited in the light of more
robust, quantitative datasets and more effective analytical approaches (Olalla-
Tàrraga, 2010). Several of these “rules” still remain anecdotal, rely on little
evidence, or are at best largely controversial. Two of those that still attract the
attention of many researchers concern the relationship between climate and
body size, or size of certain body parts of animals, respectively Bergmann’s and
Allen’s rules. We will also mention Rapoport’s rule, at least because it has had
the merit to stimulate much research on species’ distributional patterns

3. Bergmann’s Rule
This is a famous ecogeographical rule first formulated by Bergmann (1847): it
originally stated that in cold climates endothermic species with a large body
size are more frequent than in warmer areas (Figure 1). Note that the original
formulation concerned species assemblages and was confined to endotherms.
Studies on ectotherms have often failed to report this pattern. Pincheira-
Donoso (2010) argues that this does not diminish the rule’s predictive power as
far as the latter is only tested on endothermic organisms, i.e. according to its
original formulation. Further reformulations soon shifted the scale of interest
of this rule from interspecific to intraspecific variation, so that more evidence is
now available for patterns of size variation observed within species, but studies
verifying its validity for species groups (e.g. birds, mammals) also exist. Imagine,
for simplicity, a spherical animal. The area of its surface is calculated as 2 A = 4π
r whereas its volume as 4 2 3 V r = π , r being the sphere’s radius. When the
radius increases, the A V/ ratio will decrease because A grows according to a
quadratic exponential, V according to a cubic one. Animals dwelling cold
climates vitally need to preserve as much heat as possible. Reducing the A V/
ratio means reducing the surface available for heat loss per volume unit.
Besides, larger animals also show thicker insulation layers (Blackburn et al.,
1999). Logically, within a certain species the populations made of larger
individuals should occur at higher latitudes / altitudes, i.e. in colder climates,
whereas smaller-sized individuals should be found in lower latitudes or
elevations. UNESCO – EOLSS SAMPLE CHAPTERS GEOGRAPHY – Zoogeography:
An Ecological Perspective – Danilo Russo ©Encyclopedia of Life Support
Systems (EOLSS) Quite often this variation does not show abrupt changes in an
animal’s size, but rather a continuous pattern, called a cline. The phenomenon
is especially evident for some endothermic species. Grey wolves inhabiting
northern latitudes, for example, such as arctic tundra populations, are clearly
larger in size than those found at lower latitudes, e.g. in Mexico or the
Mediterranean

4. Allen’s Rule:
This rule (Allen, 1877) states that in endotherms protruding body parts,
such as tail, ears, bill, extremities, and so forth, are relatively shorter in the
cooler parts of the range of a species than in the warmer parts. The rule
follows the same logic as Bergmann’s, because shorter protruding parts
minimize the A V/ ratio of an animal’s body, thus countering heat loss.
Although widely mentioned in textbooks, the available evidence is limited
to few validations for single species. Again, the rule is often extended to
ectotherms, with no significant supporting evidence, which in thermally
heterogeneous habitats would benefit by slowing down changes in body
temperature thus improving their performance. Few studies have verified
this rule across species. One studies focused on seabirds (Nudds and
Oswald, 2007) whereas a recent one (Symonds and Tuttersall, 2010)
comprised birds from several taxonomic groups and showed that direct
association between beak length and temperature occurs in parrots,
galliforms, penguins and gulls, whereas support for the rule in leg element
lengths was weak (i.e. beaks would be more constrained by temperature).
There is scientific evidence (Serrat et al. 2008) that mammal limbs and ears
may grow longer under warmer ambient temperature, as seen in mice in
lab conditions, because the latter would prompt cartilage proliferation. This
might explain Allen’s patterns in terms of phenotypic plasticity rather than
by advocating strict genetic control for the development of appendages in
different climates, but prudence is needed before drawing conclusions
from a single case study.
5. Rapoport’s Rule:
Rapoport’s rule states that organisms living at lower latitudes show narrower
latitudinal ranges than those occurring at higher latitudes; the rule would also
apply to elevation (organisms at higher elevation would have narrower
altitudinal ranges). The rule was first enunciated by Stevens (1989) and is
 named after E.H. Rapoport who provided the first evidence for the
phenomenon. It has been employed as a possible explanation for tropical
species diversity (narrower ranges granting coexistence to more species).
There is little consensus on the rule’s validity – in fact studies confuting it are
more numerous than those supporting it. Clearly, species that have evolved
recently in the tropics may show narrower ranges because they have not yet
had the time to spread, vice versa for species with a longer evolutionary
history (Rohde, 1998).

Aims of zoogeography:
Zoogeography aims to explain the structure, function and history of the geo
graphical ranges of animals. The absence or presence of a species in a given place
has ecological as well as historical causes. It is therefore a mistake to suppose that
reconstructing the phylogenetic connections of a taxon will by itself give a definite
picture of how its range originated. A purely ecological interpretation of the range
could be equally misleading if it did not take into account the population-genetic
structure underlying the geographical range. Phylogenetic systematics, population
genetics, autecology and synecology have all their own methods, none of which
can be substituted for another, without which a range cannot be studied or
interpreted. The present book covers only certain aspects of the wide field of
zoogeo graphy. These are in the form in which they were crystallised in the course
of innumerable discussions with my teachers, my colleagues at home and abroad
and my fellow workers, postgraduates and students at Saarbriicken, as well as in
the zoogeographical part of may basic lectures on biogeography for the year
1973-1974. The chief emphasis is laid on the genetic and ecological macro
structure of the biosphere as an arena for range structures and range dynamics,
on urban ecosystems, which have hitherto been grossly neglected, and on the
most recent history of ranges (the dispersal centre concept). The marine and
fresh-water biocycles, on the other hand, have been dealt only briefly
Faunal region, also called Zoogeographic Region which can be defined by the
geographers on the basis of distinctive animal life.
Summary on the Fauna Regions of the World
The leading ecologist and environmentalist A.R. Wallace attempted to classify the
world animals into fauna regions in 1876. Since then a number of attempts have
been made by the ecologists to delineate the faunal regions of the world. The
experts divide the world into the following faunal regions.
1. Palearctic Region
This faunal region stretches over the greater parts of Europe and Eurasia, north of
Himalayas. This faunal region includes 136 families of vertebrates, 100 genera of
mammals, 174 genera of birds. The important animals of this region are Russian
desmans, arctic-fox, arctic-hare, caribou, reindeer, polar bear; Mediterranean
moles, rats, saiga and chiru antelope, ancestors of crocodiles, lizards, moose,
mole, deer, lemming, musk-fox, Lynx, wild-ass, horse, camel, hamster, jackal, etc.,
red-fox, black bear, hedge-hog, jerboa, cotton-tail, etc.
2. Nearctic Region
This faunal region sprawls over North America, Greenland and the Canadian
Islands west of Greenland. This is also known as the Arctic Fauna Region. The
main animals of this region include deer, lynx, mouse, mules, wolf; bison, jack-
rabbit, prairie-dog, gopher, fox; lizards, snakes, kangaroo, jerboa, hamster,
hedgehog, cotton- tail, etc.
3. Oriental Region
The oriental region sprawls to the south of Himalayas in South and South-East
Asia. Climatically this region falls in the tropical climate. This faunal region
represents 164 families of vertebrates, 118 genera of mammals and 340 genera of
birds. The main animals of this faunal region are Indian-elephants, rhino, several
species of deer, antelopes, tigers, lizards, snakes, gibbons, monkeys, sun-bear,
stag, tree-shrew, etc.
4. Ethiopian Region
This faunal region stretches over the greater parts of the continent of Africa,
excluding the Mediterranean region. It also covers the adjacent islands like
Madagascar. This region represents 174 families of vertebrates, 140 genera of
mammals, and 294 genera of birds. The main animals of this region include
springbok, jerboa, zebra, gnu, giraffe, elephant, ostrich, lions, cheetah, gorilla,
chimpanzee, monkey, forest elephants, etc.
5. Australian Region
The Australian region stretches over the continent of Australia, New Zealand, New
Guinea and the adjacent islands. There are 141 families of vertebrates.

IMPORTANCE OF ZOOGEOGRAPHY:
Zoogeography has two major divisions: (1) ecological zoogeography and (2)
historical 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. Historical zoogeography is concerned
with determining and understanding the origin, extinction, and dispersal of a
particular taxon. It aims to understand the past distribution of animals that led to
their present day pattern. Thus, it encompasses and makes use of geography,
geological history, evolutionary theories, physiography, climate, etc. in their
study.
REFRENCES:
https://academic.oup.com/icb/article/29/3/885/294182
https://www.accessscience.com/binary/mheasworks/407f7dbd6386dfce/4bc06
490f2ba5
https://www.sciencedirect.com/topics/agricultural-and-biological-
sciences/zoogeography
https://www.slideshare.net/ssuser67d048/zoogeography-history-branches
https://academic.oup.com/bioscience/article/62/3/260/359064