PCB 4043 Chapter Notes - Chapter 18: Amazon River, Gamma Diversity, Alpha Diversity
13 Jun 2016
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Document Summary
18. 1: patterns of species diversity and distribution vary at global, regional, and local spatial scales. Biogeography is the study of patterns of species composition and diversity across geographic locations. Amazon contains more plant species than all of europe! The amazon basin is the largest watershed in the world. Amazon river exceeds the total number found in the entire. Ecologists have worked to understand the processes that control these broad patterns. A number of hypotheses have been proposed, which are highly dependent on spatial scale: regional scale areas with uniform climate; the species are tied to that region by dispersal limitations. Regional species pool all the species contained within a region (gamma diversity). Local scale equivalent to a community: species physiology and interactions with other species are important factors in the resulting species diversity (alpha diversity). 18. 2: global patterns of species diversity and composition are controlled by geographic area and isolation, evolutionary history, and global climate.
