BIOGEOGRAPHIC REGIONS OF THE WORLD AND THEIR CHARACTERISTICS - BIOLOGY - 2024

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 must be long enough to maintain the integrity of the biological regions of communities, habitats and ecosystems and to support important ecological processes such as nutrient cycling, migration, and vapor flow.

However, a biogeographic region must be small enough for local residents to call it 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 different from other bioregions.

A biogeographic region refers to a geographic terrain and a terrain of consciousness. That is, 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 characteristics of each bioregion.

Rather than being politically drawn lines to define counties, states, and nations, dividing lines are an important physical characteristic of biogeographic regions, and they are frequently used to define borders, as was the case in New Zealand.

These ecological formations are scattered around the earth's surface, separated into eight large ecological systems that are home to 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 seeing the 8 natural regions of the world and their characteristics.

Biogeographic regions of planet Earth

1- Nearctic bioregion

The Nearctic 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 Nearctic is divided into four bioregions: the Canadian Shield, eastern North America, western North America, and northern Mexico.

The Canadian Shield stretches across northern 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 ancient supercontinent of Pangea split into two 180 million years ago, North America remained attached to Eurasia as part of the supercontinent of Laurasia, while South America was part of the continent of Gondwana.

North America was later separated from Eurasia. North America was linked 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- Palearctic bioregion

The Palearctic is the largest of the eight bioregions that make up the earth's surface. It is made up of Europe, Asia, the northern Himalayas, North Africa, and the north and central part of the Arabian peninsula.

This region contains many of the most important freshwater streams, as well as includes rivers from Europe, Russia which run within the Arctic, Baltic, and Black and Caspian Seas.

It also includes Lake Baikal in Serbia (the deepest lake on the planet) and the ancient Japanese Lake Biwa.

3- Afrotropic bioregion

It used to be known as the Etópica Zone This zone includes southern Africa of the Sahara, the southern and eastern parts of the Arabian Peninsula, the island of Madagascar, southern Iran, the extreme southwest of Pakistan, and the islands of the western Indian Ocean.

Almost all of these lands were part of the ancient 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, most of the Afrotropics have a tropical climate. A wide strip of deserts separates the Afrotropics from the Palearctic zone.

4- Antarctic bioregion

The polar regions are deserts of ice and snow, swept by powerful winds. This area is among the most uninhabitable places on the planet. At the northern end of our planet lies the Arctic, made up of roughly 30 percent land and 70 percent ocean.

In summer, the floor is covered by arctic tundra vegetation, typical in this area. On the south pole of the earth 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 snowy continent is the coldest place in the world. The frozen waters of the polar ocean are covered with a layer of floating ice, called the ice sheet.

Regardless of whether they live in the ocean or on land, the animals of the polar regions have adapted perfectly to the extreme conditions of their environment.

5- Australian bioregion

The Australian bioregion matches, but 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 Moluccas Islands (the Indonesian provinces of Maluku and northern 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 Indomalayan bioregion.

Australia, New Zealand, and New Caledonia are all fragments of the former supercontinent of Gondwana, the markings of which are still visible on the Northern Mariana Islands and other geographic entities.

6- Indomalaya bioregion

This Indomalaya area 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).

The Indomalaya extends over Afghanistan to Pakistan through the Indian subcontinent and southeast Asia to southern China. Also through Indonesia to Java, Bali, and Borneo.

The Indomalaya borders the Australian bioregion to the east and the two are separated by the Wallace line. The Indomalaya also includes the Philippines, Taiwan, and the Ryukyu Islands of Japan.

Much of Indomalaya was originally covered by tropical and subtropical broadleaf forests. 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 Dipterocarpaceae family.

7- Oceanic bioregion

It is the smallest of the ecosystems on the planet. Oceania is the only ecosystem that does not include any continental landmass. This bioregion includes the Pacific Ocean, the Micronesian Islands, the Fiji Islands, and most of Polynesia (except for New Zealand). It is the youngest bioregion.

While the other bioregions include fragments of ancient continents and land masses, Oceania is made up of Volcanic Islands and corals that recently emerged from the sea.

Its date dates from the Pleistocene epoch. These islands were created either by volcanic activity or by the collision of tectonic plates that helped push the islands upward.

The climate of Oceania is tropical or subtropical and varies from humid to dry. The humid parts of the islands are covered by tropical and subtropical humid 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 tropical terrestrial ecoregions of America and the entire temperate zone of southern America.

It is made up of southern and Central America, the lower part of Mexico, the Caribbean Islands, and southern Florida. The vast part of southern America belongs to the Antarctic ecosystem. Many of the regions included in the Neotropics share the same diversity of plant and animal life.

The flora and fauna of the Neotropics are unique and distinct from the Nearctic (which is made up of North America) due to the long separation between these two continents. The formation of the Isthmus of Panama (three million years ago) brought the two continents back together, and many species and families intermingled.

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 Antarctic flora.

After the breakup of Gondwana 110 million years ago, South America was separated from Africa and divided into north and west. Much later, around two to three million years ago, South America was united through the Isthmus of Panama.

The long-term effect of the lineage and exchange of the southern and northern species was the reason for the extinction of many species in South America, especially because of the overcompetition made by the northern species.

References

1. Flannery, Tim (2001). The Eternal Frontier: an Ecological History of North America and its Peoples. Grove Press, New York.
2. Nature Places. BBC Media. Excerpted from bbc.co.uk.
3. Udvardy, MDF (1975). A classification of the biogeographical provinces of the world. IUCN Occasional Paper no. 18. Morges, Switzerland: IUCN.
4. Your universe online media. Extracted from redorbit.com.
5. Office of Enviroment and Heritage. Extracted from environment.nsw.gov.au.
6. Moritz and KE Linsenmair, West African fish diversity - distribution patterns and possible conclusions for conservation strategies (in African Biodiversity: Molecules, Organisms, Ecosystems, Springer, 2001).