Geography Reference
In-Depth Information
Once converted to permanentism, Wallace (1876) wrote his monumental
The Geographical Distribution of Animals, in which he summarized his pre-
vious findings and provided a general account of Sclater's system with nu-
merous examples. According to Wallace, the purpose of a general region-
alization of the earth was to allow comparative analyses of the geograph-
ic distribution of different taxa, communication between naturalists, and an-
omaly detection (Bueno-Hernández and Llorente Bousquets 2003). Regions
should be useful and natural, so they must be based on the great geograph-
ic divisions of the earth, be rich in all taxonomic groups, and show some in-
dividuality (based on the presence or absence of taxa that are abundant in
adjacent areas).
Patterson (1983) found in Wallace the beginnings of two approaches
to biogeography. The first uses the distribution of life as factual evidence
bearing on the history of the earth “may reveal to us, in a manner which
no other evidence can, which are the oldest and most permanent features
of the Earth's surface, and which are the newest” (Wallace 1876:8). The
second uses theories of the history of the earth and life to explain distribu-
tions: “[They] will teach us to estimate the comparative importance of vari-
ous groups of animals, and to avoid the common error of cutting the Gordi-
an knot of each difficulty by vast hypothetical changes in existing continents
and oceans—probably the most permanent features of our globe” (Wallace
1876:9).
Patterson (1983) considered Wallace's biogeographic approach original
because of its commitment to evolution, its use of statistical comparisons
of genera, its reliance on mammals, and its appeal to fossils. Michaux
(1991) considered it an oversimplification to regard Wallace as a dispersal-
ist. Instead, he attempted to interpret distributions in terms of the geologic-
al history. Bueno-Hernández and Llorente Bousquets (2003) analyzed Wal-
lace's biogeographic ideas, finding a sharp contrast between his first papers
and On Some Anomalies in Zoological and Botanical Geography . Origin-
ally,Wallacewasanextensionist,interpretingfaunisticaffinitiesasindicating
former connections and considering dispersal to be irrelevant, but after 1864
he believed that the earth's surface has been basically unchanged over its
history and postulated that dispersals have had a fundamental role in shap-
ing biogeographic patterns. Heads (2005a) noted that in the original edition
of The Malay Archipelago, Wallace (1869) explained some “anomalies” in
the fauna of Sulawesi with reference to past connections with Africa, but in
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