Geography Reference
In-Depth Information
Figure 6.2
Biogeographic regionalizations of the world. (a) Parenti (1991); (b) Cox
(2001); (c) Morrone (2002a). (a) Af, Africa; Aus, Australia; Bo, Borneo; CA, Central
America; EA, Eurasia; Eu, Europe; In, India; Mad, Madagascar; NA, North America;
NC, New Caledonia; NG, New Guinea; NZ, New Zealand; SA, South America; Saf,
South Africa; Su, Sumatra; Tas, Tasmania. (b) 1, North American region; 2, Euras-
ian region; 3, South American region; 4, African region; 5, Oriental region; 6, Aus-
tralian region. (c) 1, 2, Holarctic realm; 1, Nearctic region; 2, Palearctic region; 3-6,
Holotropical realm, 3, Neotropical region; 4, Afrotropical region; 5, Oriental region; 6,
Australian Tropical region; 7-11, Austral realm; 7, Andean region; 8, Cape region; 9,
Neoguinean region; 10, Australian Temperate region; 11, Neozealandic region.
Marine regionalization began with Ortmann (1896). In the twentieth cen-
tury, important contributions included Ekman (1935), Briggs (1974, 1995),
and Pierrot-Bults et al. (1986). Briggs (1995) recognized twenty-three mar-
ine biogeographic regions: Indo-West Pacific, Eastern Pacific, Western At-
lantic, Eastern Atlantic, Southern Australian, Northern New Zealand,
Western South America, Eastern South America, Southern Africa, Medi-
terranean-Atlantic, Carolina, California, Japan, Tasmanian, Southern New
Zealand, Antipodean, Subantarctic, Magellan, Eastern Pacific Boreal,
Western Atlantic Boreal, Eastern Atlantic Boreal, Antarctic, and Arctic.
In recent years panbiogeographic and cladistic biogeographic analyses have dealt
with areas in Latin America and the Caribbean. On the basis of these analyses,
seventy biotic components were recognized and treated as biogeographic
provinces (Morrone 2001a, 2006). In addition, they were grouped hierarchically
in regions, subregions, and dominions. Also, two transition zones between the
biogeographic regions were recognized (Morrone 2004c, 2005b, 2006). I describe
and zones of transition in which they are classified.
The Nearctic region basically corresponds to the cold temperate areas of North
America, in Canada, the United States (excluding southern Florida), and north-
ern Mexico. The Latin American Nearctic provinces are found in Mexico, and with
the exception of the Baja California province they all extend north into the United
States. They have been assigned to the North American Pacific subregion. On the
basis of parsimony analyses of endemicity (PAEs) (Katinas et al. 2004; Morrone et
al. 1999; Rojas Soto et al. 2003) and panbiogeographic analyses (Contreras-Med-
ina and Eliosa León 2001; Escalante et al. 2004), it is possible to group them in-
to two dominions (Morrone and Márquez 2003): the California and Baja California
