Comparative Biogeography

ABOUT THE AUTHORS

Lynne R. Parenti is Research Scientist and Curator of Fishes at the National Museum of Natural History in the Smithsonian Institution, and co-editor, with R. Claro and K. C. Lindeman, of Ecology of the Marine Fishes of Cuba (2002), co-editor, with M.L.J. Stiassny and G. D. Johnson, of Interrelationships of Fishes (1996, 1998), and co-author, with C. J. Humphries, of Cladistic biogeography (1986, 1999).

Malte C. Ebach is is an ARC Future Fellow at School of Biological, Earth & Environmental Sciences at the University of New South Wales (in 2010), and co-author, with D. M. Williams, of Foundations of Systematics and Biogeography (2008), and co-editor, with R. S. Tangey, of Biogeography in a Changing World (2006).

To unravel the complex shared history of the Earth and its life forms, biogeographers analyze patterns of biodiversity, species distribution, and geological history. So far, the field of biogeography has been fragmented into divergent systematic and evolutionary approaches, with no overarching or unifying research theme or method. In this text, Lynne Parenti and Malte Ebach address this discord and outline comparative tools to unify biogeography. Rooted in phylogenetic systematics, this comparative biogeographic approach offers a comprehensive empirical framework for discovering and deciphering the patterns and processes of the distribution of life on Earth. The authors cover biogeography from its fundamental ideas to the most effective ways to implement them. Real-life examples illustrate concepts and problems, including the first comparative biogeographical analysis of the Indo-West Pacific, an introduction to biogeographical concepts rooted in the earth sciences, and the integration of phylogeny, evolution and earth history.

Thursday, January 13, 2011

Award, received 12 January 2011

Compartive Biogeography has just won the Smithsonian Institution Secretary's Research Prize for 2010, for exemplary scholarship and outstanding contribution toward the increase and diffusion of knowledge.

Tuesday, December 1, 2009