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New York: Basic Books ISBN 978-0-465-02051-5 [27] The New Biogeography and its Niche in Physical Geography D

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Lake, P (1979): Physical Geography (English and Hindi editions), Cambridge University Press, Singh, M B (2001): Bhoutik Bhugol, Tara Book Agency, Varanasi Huggett, R J (1998): Fundamentals of Biogeography, Routledge, London

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[PDF] An Introduction to Biogeography and Climate Change

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International Journal of Research and Scientific Innovation (IJRSI) | Volume III, Issue VI, June 2016 | ISSN 2321-2705

www.rsisinternational.org Page 136

An Introduction to Biogeography and Climate

Change

Vijeta Nehra

Lecturer, Chhaju Ram Memorial (CRM) Jat College, Hisar Abstract: Biogeography is a branch of geography that studies the past and present distribution of the world's many species. It is usually considered to be a part of physical geography as it often relates to the examination of the physical environment and how it affects species and shaped their distribution across space.1 Climate change, also called global warming, refers to the rise in average surface temperatures on Earth.2 In this paper we studied about biogeography and climate change & its causes and effect.

I. INTRODUCTION

iogeography is the study of the distribution of species and ecosystems in geographic space and through (geological) time. Organisms and biological communities often vary in a regular fashion along geographic gradients of latitude, elevation, isolation and habitat area. The biogeographic regions of the world that Wallace recognized roughly coincide with the continents themselves. But in the twentieth century, scientists have recognized that biogeography has been far more dynamic over the course of surfaceprimarily the continents and islandsinto regions exhibiting differences in the average composition of flora and fauna. It is thought that the present-day distribution patterns of plant and animal forms, as reflected in such biogeographic regions, are the result of many historical and current causes. Climate change is a change in the statistical distribution of weather patterns when that change lasts for an extended period of time (i.e., decades to millions of years). Climate change may refer to a change in average weather conditions, or in the time variation of weather around longer-term average conditions (i.e., more or fewer extreme weather events).

II. HISTORY OF BIOGEOGRAPHY

The first discoveries that contributed to the development of biogeography as a science began in the mid-18th century, as Europeans explored the world and discovered the biodiversity of life. During the 18th century most views on the world were shaped around religion and for many natural theologists, the bible. Wallace had already accepted evolution when he began his travels in 1848 through the Amazon and Southeast Asia. On his journeys, he sought to demonstrate that evolution did indeed take place, by showing how geography affected the ranges of species. He studied hundreds of thousands of animals and plants, carefully noting exactly where he had found them. The study of biogeography gained popularity with the work of Alfred Russel Wallace in the mid-to-late

19th Century. Wallace, originally from England, was a

naturalist, explorer, geographer, anthropologist, and biologist. Moving on to the 20th century, Alfred Wegener introduced the Theory of Continental Drift in 1912, though it was not widely accepted until the 1960s.

III. TYPES OF BIOGEOGRAPHY

Today, biogeography is broken into three main fields of study. The three fields are historical biogeography, ecological biogeography, and conservation biogeography.

A. Historical biogeography

Historical biogeography is the study of animal distributions emphasiszing evolution and over evolutionary time scales, and using a combination of phylogenetic and distributional information.

B. Ecological biogeography

Ecological biogeography looks at the current factors responsible for the distribution of plants and animals. The most common fields of research within ecological biogeography are climatic equability, primary productivity, and habitat heterogeneity.

C. Conservation Biogeography

Conservation biogeography is well poised to make a significant contribution to the process of providing policy makers with objectively formulated scenarios and options for the effective management of biodiversity. The editorial, and the papers in the special issue, deliberate on many of the exciting developments in play in the field, and the many complex challenges that lie ahead. Conservation biogeography is a relatively new academic endeavor that brings conservation and applied concerns to the fore by combining the traditions of biogeography with the concerns of conservation biology

IV. CLIMATE CHANGE

There's a lot of information floating around about climate change. Most people know it has something to do with industrial pollution, changing weather and car exhaust, and B

International Journal of Research and Scientific Innovation (IJRSI) | Volume III, Issue VI, June 2016 | ISSN 2321-2705

www.rsisinternational.org Page 137 they kind of get what Al Gore was trying to say in An Inconvenient Truth. Earth's average temperature has risen by

1.5°F over the past century, and is projected to rise another

0.5 to 8.6°F over the next hundred years. Small changes in the

average temperature of the planet can translate to large and potentially dangerous shifts in climate and weather. Global warming has already begun. Since 1900, the global average temperature has risen by 0.7 degrees Celsius, and the northern hemisphere is substantially warmer than at any point during the past 1,000 years. Over the past century, human activities have released large amounts of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases into the atmosphere.

V. CAUSE OF CLIMATE CHANGE

The primary cause of climate change is the burning of fossil fuels, such as oil and coal, which emits greenhouse gases into the atmosphereprimarily carbon dioxide. Other human activities, such as agriculture and deforestation, also contribute to the proliferation of greenhouse gases that cause climate change. The Earth's climate can be affected by natural factors that are external to the climate system, such as changes in volcanic activity, solar output, and the Earth's orbit around the Sun. Of these, the two factors relevant on timescales of contemporary climate change are changes in volcanic activity and changes in solar radiation. Climate change can also be caused by human activities, such as the burning of fossil fuels and the conversion of land for forestry and agriculture. Since the beginning of the Industrial Revolution, these human influences on the climate system have increased substantially. In addition to other environmental impacts, these activities change the land surface and emit various substances to the atmosphere.

VI. EFFECT OF CLIMATE CHANGE

Global climate change will affect people and the environment in many ways. Some of these impacts, like stronger hurricanes and severe heat waves, could be life threatening. Others, like spreading weeds, will be less serious. And some effects, like longer growing seasons for crops, might even be good! However, as the Earth keeps getting warmer, the negative effects are expected to outweigh the positive ones. Rising sea levels due to the melting of the polar ice caps (again, caused by climate change) contribute to greater storm damage; warming ocean temperatures are associated with stronger and more frequent storms; additional rainfall, particularly during severe weather events, leads to flooding and other damage; an increase in the incidence and severity of wildfires threatens habitats, homes, and lives; and heat waves contribute to human deaths and other consequences.

VII. CONCLUSION

In this review paper we takes an over view on climate change and Biogeography. recent data are provided by the instrumental record. General circulation models, based on the physical sciences, are often used in theoretical approaches to match past climate data, make future projections, and link causes and effects in climate change. Biogeography is also essential in understanding why species are in their present locations and in developing protecting the world's natural habitats.

REFERENCES

[1]. Biogeography by Encyclopaedia Britannica https://www.britannica.com/science/biogeography [2]. Biogeography: An Overview and History of the Study of

Biogeography By Amanda Briney

http://geography.about.com/od/physicalgeography/a/biogeography.h tm [3]. Biogeography: Wallace and Wegener http://evolution.berkeley.edu/evolibrary/article/history_16 [4]. biogeography

Conservation biogeography DOI: 10.1111/j.1472-

4642.2010.00660.xhttp://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.147

2-4642.2010.00660.x/abstract

[5]. Kenneth R. Young &RQVHUYDWLRQ %LRJHRJUDSK\

[PDF] An Introduction to Biogeography and Climate Change