Glossary - Evolutionary Biogeography - page 319

dispersal expansion of the distributional area of a taxon, covering all types of geo-
graphic translocation.
dispersalism general biogeographic approach that locates centers of origin or an-
cestral areas and then uses dispersal from them to explain the biogeographic
history of particular taxa.
dispersal-vicariance analysis cladistic biogeographic method that reconstructs
ancestral distributions from one given phylogenetic hypothesis without as-
suming a particular process a priori, taking into account vicariance, dispersal,
and extinction. It reconstructs the biogeographic history of individual taxa, but
it can also be used to find the general relationships of an area, especially
when these relationships do not conform to a hierarchical pattern.
dispersal-vicariance model evolution of biotic distributions in two steps. (1) Dis-
persal: When climatic and geographic factors are favorable, organisms act-
ively expand their geographic distribution according to their dispersal capabil-
ities, thus acquiring their ancestral distribution or primitive cosmopolitism. (2)
Vicariance: When organisms have occupied all available geographic or ecolo-
gic space, their distribution may stabilize, allowing the isolation of populations
in different sectors of the area and the differentiation of new species through
the appearance of geographic barriers.
dispersion movement of an organism within its area of distribution, also known as
organismic or intrarange dispersal.
district lowest biogeographic category.
dominion biogeographic category intermediate between region and province.
dynamic vicariance action of climatic changes that displace biotic components
gradually in a certain direction, which finally find a barrier that causes vicari-
ance.
ecological biogeography subdiscipline that analyzes patterns at the species or
population level, at small spatial and temporal scales, accounting for distribu-
tions in terms of biotic and abiotic interactions that happen in short periods of
time.
ecological hierarchy an arrangement of entities called interactors, which are in-
volved in the matter-energy interchange. Interactors include molecules, cells,
organisms, populations, and biotas.
endemicity analysis method to identify areas of endemism that takes into consid-
eration the spatial position of the species in order to identify the set of grid
cells that represent an optimal area of endemism, according to a score based
on the number of species endemic to it.
Euramerica supercontinent from the Silurian that included North America and Eur-
asia.
event-based methods cladistic biogeographic methods that derive explicit models
of particular biogeographic processes. They include tree reconciliation ana-
lysis, vicariance events analysis, and dispersal-vicariance analysis.