A natural regionalization of the world based on primary biogeographic homology of terrestrial mammals

Primary biogeographic homology implies that different taxa are spatiotemporally integrated in a biota with a common biogeographic history, namely naturalness. Primary spatial homology includes the identification of areas of endemism. Therefore, the first step to approach a natural regionalization is to identify the patterns of endemism. In order to achieve this, I obtained the areas of endemism of terrestrial mammals of the world at two different spatial scales of analysis using a Parsimony Analysis of Endemicity (PAE): 8° latitude‐longitude (families and genera) and 4° latitude‐longitude (species). Fourteen general patterns, summarized from 54 areas of endemism, were recovered for the 8° scale, whereas 44 general patterns, from 176 areas of endemism, were recovered for the 4° scale. At both scales, there were patterns of successively nested endemism. In general, I found evidence for maintaining the regionalization proposed by Wallace in 1876 (Australian, Ethiopian, Neotropical, and Oriental regions), and I also found evidence supporting the addition of new regions, such as the Andean region. Other Wallace's regions were not recovered completely, such as the Nearctic and Palearctic regions, probably due to several biotic interchanges between them. Some transition zones were recovered (South American Transition Zone and Mediterranean). I also identified endemic species for small areas of endemism that may represent provinces. The results of this work can be used to pro...

Source: Biological Journal of the Linnean Society - September 18, 2016 Category: Research Authors: Tania Escalante Tags: Original Article Source Type: research