PCB 3044
PCB3044 Exam 5 |Questions and
Answers |100% Verified 2026
The study of patterns of species composition and diversity across geographic
locations.
Biogeography
How does species diversity change?
Species diversity varies with latitude and by continent
What is an endemic species?
Means that they occur nowhere else on earth
What does the global scale encompass?
The entire world
What does a regional scale mean?
Areas with uniform climate; the species are tied to that region by dispersal
limitations.
Gamma diversity/regional species pool
All the species contained within a region
Topographic and environmental features of a region (number, area, distance
between mountains, valleys, deserts, lakes, etc).
Landscape
Why are landscape features significant?
They shape rates of migration and extinction.
Equivalent to a community
Local scale/alpha diversity
Species physiology and interactions with other species are important factors in
the resulting species diversity
Alpha diversity
PCB 3044
,PCB 3044
Local scale includes
Beta diversity and alpha diversity
Change in species number and composition, or turnover of species, from one
community type to another, connects local and regional scales
Beta diversity
Within community diversity
Alpha
Between community diversity
Beta
Total diversity/ regional diversity pool
Gamma
What provides raw material for local assemblages and sets the theoretical upper
limit on species diversity for communities.
The regional species pool
The father of biogeography, published the geographical distribution of animals
Alfred russel wallace
•the land masses can be divided into ____________ biogeographic regions.
6
The plates are sections of earth's crust that move or drift through the action of
currents generated deep within the molten rock mantle.
Continental drift
Evolutionary separation of species by barriers such as those formed by
continental drift
Vicariance
The net increase or decrease of species over time.
Species diversification
Major hypothesis of global biogeography
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, PCB 3044
1. Rate of species diversification is higher in the tropics
2. Diversification rates are similar, but evolutionary time is greater in the tropics
3. Higher productivity results in more abundant resources in the tropics (higher
carrying capacity)
The tropics have the most _____________ on earth and temperatures are very
stable
Land area
Large, _____________ areas should decrease extinction rates—population sizes
and geographic ranges would be larger.
Thermally stable
The tropics are thought to have been more climatically stable over time, and
species have had ______________
More time to evolve
Terrestrial productivity is highest ____________
In the tropics
__________________ promotes large population sizes because carrying capacity
is larger
High productvity
Species richness increases with area sampled
Species-area relationship
Developed a theoretical model, the equilibrium theory of island biogeography:
Macarthur and wilson
The number of species on an island depends on a balance between immigration
or dispersal rates and extinction rates
Equilibrium theory of island biogeography
Number of species that should theoretically "fit" on the island
Equilibrium
Macarthur and wilson assumed that _____________ mainly controls extinction
rates
PCB 3044
PCB3044 Exam 5 |Questions and
Answers |100% Verified 2026
The study of patterns of species composition and diversity across geographic
locations.
Biogeography
How does species diversity change?
Species diversity varies with latitude and by continent
What is an endemic species?
Means that they occur nowhere else on earth
What does the global scale encompass?
The entire world
What does a regional scale mean?
Areas with uniform climate; the species are tied to that region by dispersal
limitations.
Gamma diversity/regional species pool
All the species contained within a region
Topographic and environmental features of a region (number, area, distance
between mountains, valleys, deserts, lakes, etc).
Landscape
Why are landscape features significant?
They shape rates of migration and extinction.
Equivalent to a community
Local scale/alpha diversity
Species physiology and interactions with other species are important factors in
the resulting species diversity
Alpha diversity
PCB 3044
,PCB 3044
Local scale includes
Beta diversity and alpha diversity
Change in species number and composition, or turnover of species, from one
community type to another, connects local and regional scales
Beta diversity
Within community diversity
Alpha
Between community diversity
Beta
Total diversity/ regional diversity pool
Gamma
What provides raw material for local assemblages and sets the theoretical upper
limit on species diversity for communities.
The regional species pool
The father of biogeography, published the geographical distribution of animals
Alfred russel wallace
•the land masses can be divided into ____________ biogeographic regions.
6
The plates are sections of earth's crust that move or drift through the action of
currents generated deep within the molten rock mantle.
Continental drift
Evolutionary separation of species by barriers such as those formed by
continental drift
Vicariance
The net increase or decrease of species over time.
Species diversification
Major hypothesis of global biogeography
PCB 3044
, PCB 3044
1. Rate of species diversification is higher in the tropics
2. Diversification rates are similar, but evolutionary time is greater in the tropics
3. Higher productivity results in more abundant resources in the tropics (higher
carrying capacity)
The tropics have the most _____________ on earth and temperatures are very
stable
Land area
Large, _____________ areas should decrease extinction rates—population sizes
and geographic ranges would be larger.
Thermally stable
The tropics are thought to have been more climatically stable over time, and
species have had ______________
More time to evolve
Terrestrial productivity is highest ____________
In the tropics
__________________ promotes large population sizes because carrying capacity
is larger
High productvity
Species richness increases with area sampled
Species-area relationship
Developed a theoretical model, the equilibrium theory of island biogeography:
Macarthur and wilson
The number of species on an island depends on a balance between immigration
or dispersal rates and extinction rates
Equilibrium theory of island biogeography
Number of species that should theoretically "fit" on the island
Equilibrium
Macarthur and wilson assumed that _____________ mainly controls extinction
rates
PCB 3044
