Biogeography: An Ecological and Evolutionary Approach - Softcover

Cox, C. Barry

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9780470268933: Biogeography: An Ecological and Evolutionary Approach

Softcover

ISBN 10: 047026893X ISBN 13: 9780470268933

Publisher: John Wiley & Sons, 1980

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As in the previous (fourth) edition, the text integrates the three main threads of biogeography: i) ecological biogeography (how organisms live together where they are today); ii) the analytical biogeography of present day distribution patterns (where they live, in what diversity and how they disperse); and iii) historical biogeography (how they come to live where they are today). However, this new edition has been completely revised and almost represents a total re-write of the fourth edition. Two new themes underly this text. Firstly, the involvement of mankind in almost all aspects of biogeography and, secondly, the global viewpoint, introducing more unity than the isolated, fragmented picture that can emerge from a biome approach. This edition is an enlarged format and, as a result of the thorough revision, is 25 per cent larger than the fourth, and the text is heavily supported by line drawings and photographs.

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Book Description:

The questions asked by biogeography evolve over time, and this new edition of a long-established book raises new questions concerned with such topics as global biodiversity, the roles of species in ecosystems, and the degree to which traditional biogeographical concepts can be applied to the extensive but neglected realms of the world's oceans. Marine biogeography is a new, but fast developing discipline and is included here for the first time. The book is intended for readers interested in biogeography, as well as geography, ecology, paleobiology, and evolution.

From the Back Cover:

The science of biogeography asks, and seeks to answer, many varied questions. Why are there so many different kinds of animals and plants? Why are some common and some rare? Why are some widely dispersed and others confined to very limited areas? Why are some habitats and parts of the world so much richer in species than others? How have these patterns of distribution and species richness evolved?

The answers to these questions, in as far as they are known, are as diverse and varied as the questions themselves. To approach them it is necessary to understand global patterns of climate, as well as the physical barriers to dispersal presented by oceans, mountain chains and deserts. We need to know how species respond to the presence of competitors, predators and parasites, and how they react when their physical environment alters as climate changes and as continents break up and are set adrift. Most important of all, we need to appreciate the impact of our own species upon all others, placing new demands upon the adaptability of the living world.

The questions asked by biogeography themselves evolve over time, and this new edition of a long-established text raises new questions concerned with such topics as global biodiversity, the roles of species in ecosystems, and the degree to which traditional biogeographical concepts can be applied to the extensive, but neglected, realms of the world's oceans. Marine biogeography is a new, but fast developing discipline, and is included here for the first time.

The book is intended as the principal text for students taking courses in biogeography, as well as wider degree programmes in which the study of biogeography is important, such as geography, ecology, palaeobiology and evolution.

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