The Science of Biogeography

This chapter introduces the science of biogeography. It explains that biogeography is the branch of science that attempts to document and understand spatial patterns of biological diversity. Modern biogeography includes studies of all patterns of geographic variation in nature and elements of biological diversity that vary across geographic gradients. The chapter cites that biogeography is one of the foundational disciplines of the natural sciences, so biogeographic scholarship has fed into the science of conservation from the early days of conservation biology in the mid-1970s. It provides an overview of biography's integrative nature, philosophy, and basic principles before considering its relationships to other sciences.