The Biogeographic regions or bioregions of the world Are lands and waters whose borders are not defined politically but by the geographical limits of human communities and ecological systems.
These should be long enough to maintain the integrity of the biological regions of communities, habitats and Ecosystems And support important ecological processes such as nutrient cycling, migration and steam flow.
However, a biogeographic region should be small enough for local residents to consider as a home.
It is a geographic area described in terms of its unique combination of plants, animals, geology, climate, and waters, a space defined by natural boundaries, and distinctive living communities, which makes each region distinct from other bioregions.
A biogeographic region refers to a geographical terrain and a terrain of consciousness. That is to say, a place where ideas of how to live in that area have been developed. In addition, natural forms and living communities, including humans, become descriptive features of each bioregion.
Rather than being drawn politically to define counties, states, and nations, dividing lines are an important physical feature of biogeographic regions, and these are often used to define boundaries, as in New Zealand.
These ecological formations are scattered around the Earth's surface, separated into eight large ecological systems housing different types of plants and animals. They are made up of members of the ancient supercontinents such as Gondwana and Laurasia.
You may also be interested in viewing The 8 natural regions of the world and their characteristics .
List with 8 biogeographic regions of planet Earth
1- Neoretic bioregion
The Nearticus is one of the eight bioregions of the Earth. This region covers most of North America, Greenland and the mountainous areas of Mexico. Southern Mexico, Florida, Central America and the Caribbean are part of the neotropic zone.
The Nearticus is divided into four bioregions, these four being the Canadian Shield, eastern North America, western North America, and northern Mexico.
The Canadian Shield extends across North America from the Aleutian Islands to Newfoundland and Labrador. The Arctic tundra and the forest boreal region are part of the Canadian Shield.
When the former supercontinent of Pangea split in two 180 million years ago, North America remained united to Eurasia as part of the supercontinent of Laurasia, while South America was part of the continent of Gondwana.
North America later separated from Eurasia. North America was united by land bridges to Asia and South America since then, which allowed an exchange of plants and animals between continents. The great American exchange.
2- Paleartic bioregion
The Palearctic is the largest of the eight bioregions that constitute the Earth's surface. It consists of Europe, Asia, the northern Himalayas, North Africa and the northern and central area of the Arabian peninsula.
This region contains many of the most important freshwater streams as well as includes rivers of Europe, Russia which run within the Arctic, Baltic, and Black and Caspian Seas.
It also includes Lake Baikal of Serbia (the deepest lake on the planet) and the ancient Japanese Lake Biwa.
3 - Afrotropical bioregion
It used to be known as an ethopic zone. This area includes southern Africa from the Sahara, the southern and eastern parts of the Arabian peninsula, the island of Madagascar, southern Iran, the extreme southwest of Pakistan and the western islands of the Indian Ocean.
Almost all these lands were part of the old supercontinent of Gondwana, which began to be separated 150 million years ago.
Because Africa is a very large continent, the area has many types of climates and habitats. However, l Most Afrotropics have a tropical climate. A wide strip of deserts separates the Afrotropical from the paleartic zone.
4- Antarctic bioregion
The polar regions are deserts of ice and snow, swept by powerful winds. This area is within the most uninhabitable places on the planet. At the end of the north of our planet lies the Arctic, made with about 30 percent of land, and 70 percent of ocean.
In summer, the floor is covered by the arctic tundra vegetation, typical in this area. On the south pole of the land lies Antarctica, a mountainous continent covered in a narrow sheet of ice and surrounded by the Antarctic Ocean.
With an average temperature of -57 degrees Celsius in the center, this dry and blizzard continent is the coldest place in the world. The frozen waters of the polar ocean are covered with a layer of floating ice, called ice sheet.
Regardless of whether they live in the ocean or land, the animals in the polar regions have adapted perfectly to the extreme conditions of their environment.
5- Australian Bioregion
The Australian bioregion coincides, but it is not synonymous with the Australasia region. The bioregion includes Australia, the island of New Guinea (including Papua New Guinea and the Indonesian Province of Papua) and the eastern part of the Indonesian Archipelago, including the island of Sulawesi, the Maluku Islands (Maluku and Maluku provinces Maluku).
It also includes the islands of Lombok, Sumbawa, Sumba, and Timor. This Australian bioregion also includes several groups of Pacific islands. The rest of Indonesia is part of the indomalaya bioregion.
Australia, New Zealand and New Caledonia are all fragments of the ancient supercontinent of Gondwana, whose marks are still visible in the Northern Mariana Islands and other geographical entities.
6- Bioregion indomalaya
This area of Indomalaya covers most of the south, and Southeast Asia, as well as parts of the east. This area was originally known as the eastern region by many scientists (especially bio geographers).
Indomalaya stretches across Afghanistan to Pakistan across the Indian subcontinent and southeast Asia to southern China. Also through Indonesia to Java, Bali, and Borneo.
The Indomalaya borders on the Australian bioregion to the east and both are separated by Wallace's line. Indomalaya also includes the Philippines, Taiwan and the Ryukyu Islands of Japan.
Much of Indomalaya was originally covered by Broad-leafed and moist tropical forests And subtropical. These forests were found mostly in India and parts of Southeast Asia. Now these Indomalaya forests are dominated by rainforest trees that come from the family Dipterocarpaceae .
7- Oceanic bioregion
It is the smallest of the ecosystems on the planet. Oceania is the only ecosystem that does not include any continental land mass. This bioregion includes the Pacific Ocean, Micronesia Islands, Fiji Islands, and most of Polynesia (with the exception of New Zealand). It is the youngest bioregion.
While the other bioregions include fragments of ancient continents and terrestrial masses, Oceania is composed of Volcanic Islands and corals that left the sea recently.
Its date dates from the Pleistocene period. These islands were created either by volcanic activity or by the collision of tectonic plates Which helped to push the islands upwards.
The climate of Oceania is tropical or subtropical and varies from humid to dry. The moist parts of the islands are covered by moist tropical and subtropical forests, while the dry parts of the islands include leeward sides.
Many of the corals are covered by the tropical and subtropical dry forests of the oceanic region.
8- Neotropical bioregion
The Neotropical ecozone includes the terrestrial tropical ecoregions of America and the entire temperate zone of South America.
It is formed by the south of America and Central America, the lower part of Mexico, the Caribbean Islands and South Florida. The vast southern part of America belongs to the Antarctic ecosystem. Many of the regions included in the Neotropics share the same diversity of plants and animal life.
The flora and fauna of the Neotropics are unique and distinct from the Neartic (which is formed by North America) due to the long separation between these two continents. The formation of the Isthmus of Panama (three million years ago) united the two continents back, and many species and families mingled.
It should be noted that South America was originally part of the supercontinent Gondwana which included Africa, Australia, India, New Zealand and Antarctica. The Neotropics share the lineage of many plants and animals with other previously named continents, including marsupial mammals and the Antarctic flora.
After the Gondwana break 110 million years ago, South America was separated from Africa and divided into north and west. Much later, about two to three million years, South America was united through the isthmus of Panama.
The long-term effect of the lineage and exchange of species from the South and the North was the reason for the extinction Of many species of South America, especially by the over competition made by the species of the North.
References
- Flannery, Tim (2001). The Eternal Frontier: an Ecological History of North America and its Peoples . Grove Press, New York.
- Nature Places. BBC Media. Excerpt from bbc.co.uk.
- Udvardy, M. D. F. (1975). A classification of the biogeographical provinces of the world . IUCN Occasional Paper no. 18. Morges, Switzerland: IUCN.
- Your universe online media. Extracted from http://bitbit.com.
- Office of Environment and Heritage. Extracted the environment.nsw.gov.au.
- Moritz and K. E. Linsenmair, West African fish diversity - distribution patterns and possible conclusions for conservation strategies (in African Biodiversity: Molecules, Organisms, Ecosystems, Springer, 2001).