Biogeography, Fall 2007
Instructor: Dr. Robert R. Dunn
240 David Clark Labs
E-mail: rob_dunn@ncsu.edu
Office hours: Tuesday and Thursday 10:00-11:00 AM
Classes: Tuesday and Thursday, 8:45AM to 10:00AM in 139 David Clark labs
Course Books
I require purchase of Foundations of Biogeography out of which many of our readings will come, particularly during the first four weeks.
In addition, I will draw on material from Biogeography (Lomolino et al.), which is also nice to have.
Course Structure
Each week we will read several foundational papers in Biogeography. We will then read a few recent papers which touch on the questions raised in the foundational papers (with the idea of identifying both which foundational hypotheses have been well tested and, perhaps more interestingly, which have not). Early in the semester, on the first day of each week I will usually give a short lecture providing some historical context to the papers and the people involved. Initially, I will then also introduce the foundational papers themselves and lead discussion on the modern papers. However, beginning in the second week students will be responsible for introducing to the group the foundational papers and then leading discussion (I will continue to give the broader overview). The course will be divided into four main sections,
Section 1: Early Biogeography (1400-1950)
Section 2: Ecological Biogeography (1950-present)
Section 3: Historical Biogeography (1950-present)
Section 4: Integrating Approaches to Biogeography
The class will be graded and evaluation in the course will be based on leading discussions (given the size of the group, each person should be able to lead discussion at least once), participation, and three short papers you will write (one historical, one predictive, and one a novel analysis). For those of you (and please tell me who you are) who will be leaving the course early for fieldwork, the third paper will be required to be more in depth.
Grades: Participation 20%, Presentation 30%, Assignments 1 and 2 (10% each), Assignment 3 (30%)
Course Projects
The three main projects will be written papers. The first paper will be to trace an important biogeographical question or concept (such as the latitudinal diversity gradient) to its origin and consider what has or hasn’t been learned in the intervening years. The second project will consider whether there are general rules in Ecological Biogeography and their implications. Finally, the final project will be to examine (either conceptually or with data or both) a neglected question in Biogeography. For example, you might use one of your or my datasets to test some of Wallace’s more neglected biogeographic predictions.
Course Objectives
Trace the history of major (and minor) biogeographic questions and concepts. Identify unanswered biogeographic questions. Gain exposure to diverse methods in biogeography. Develop novel biogeographic insights and questions.
Students with Disabilities
If you have a disability, please notify me at the beginning of the semester. You will need to provide me with documentation from NCSU Disabled Student Services regarding your disability and special needs, if any. I will make every effort to accommodate your needs.
The course will have no final exam.
PRELIMINARY COURSE SCHEDULE
SECTION 1 (Early History)
FULL WEEK 1 (Where did Noah put the flesh flies?)
Tuesday (initial meeting) Aug 28th Rob
1) Excerpt from the Bible about Noah’s Ark
2) Carolus Linnaeus (1781) Excerpts from Dissertation II, on the increase of the
habitable earth.
3) Buffon (1761) Excerpts from Natural History, General and Particular
4) Discussion of how to lead a discussion
Thursday (The first field biogeographers—Latitude) Aug 30th Rob
1) Johann Reinhold Forster (1781) Observations Made During a Voyage Round the World London: G. Robinson.
2) Modern Paper: Latitudinal gradient review (Hawkins, 2004).
WEEK 2 (Upon Leaving Home, the Earth is not Uniform)
Tuesday (Humboldt climbs a mountain—Elevation) Sept. 4th
1) Humboldt (1805) Essay on the Geography of Plants
2) Edward Forbes (1843) Report on the Mollusca and Radiata of the Aegean Sea Reports of the British Association of Science 1843 (1844):130-193.
3) Modern Paper: Lomolino on elevation—Lisa
Thursday (Elevation and Theory, do you buy it) Sept. 6th
1)
WEEK 3 (How did the Possum Cross the Sea?)
Tuesday (The lesser knowns, Sclater and Hooker) Sept. 11th Rob
1) Sir Joseph Dalton Hooker (1861). Outlines of the distribution of Arctic plants. Transactions Linnaean Society of London 23: 251-348.
2) Philip Lutley Sclater (1858) On the Geographical Distribution of the Class Aves.
Journal of the Linnaean Society of London, Zoology 2: 130-145.
Thursday (Darwin v Wallace, the grudge match) Sept. 13th Rob
1) Charles Darwin (1859) Excerpts from Chapters XI and XII: Geographical Distribution, from On the origin of species by means of natural selection, or the preservation of favoured races in the struggle for life.
2) Alfred Russel Wallace (1876) Chapter XXIII: Summary of the Distribution, and Lines of Migration, of the Several Classes of Animals.
Follow up on glaciers.
WEEK 4
Tuesday (Continental Drift and Vicariance) Sept. 18th Rob
1-Robert Whittaker [The Man and his work].http://www.springerlink.com/content/k8j3319013585v28/
2-Whittaker and Niering [Santa Catalina mountains].
Visiting Speaker, Tom Wentworth
Thursday (Dispersal and Biogeography, continued…) Steve Midway Sept. 20th
Sherwin Carlquist (1966):The biota of long-distance dispersal, I : principles of dispersal and evolution (PDF and also from Foundations)
Philip J. Darlington, Jr. (1965) : excerpt from Biogeography of the southern end of the world (from Foundations)
+ additional optional readings sent by Steve. Please also read the Carlquist email. First assignment due.
OPTIONAL
Alfred Wegener (1924):excerpt from The origin of continents and oceans (from Foundations)
Lars Brundin (1966) : excerpt from Transantarctic relationships and their significance, as evidenced by chironomid midges (from Foundations)
SECTION 2 (Ecological Biogeography)
WEEK 5
No reading, discussion of first assignment results. Discussion also of expanding earth.
Thursday.
Transition into to more modern studies of diversity. Matthew and Judith Canner lead introduction to Bayesian methods of studying diversity. Matthew will send around readings.
Clark JS (2005) Why environmental scientists are becoming Bayesians Ecology Letters 8 (1), 2–14.
A general review, worth taking a look at for background.
Clark JS, Gelfand AE (2006) A future for models and data in environmental science Trends in Ecology and Evolution 21(7) 375-280
Latimer AM, Silander JA, Cowling RM (2005) Neutral Ecological Theory Reveals Isolation and Rapid Speciation in a Biodiversity Hot Spot Science 309 (5741) 1722 - 1725
Reading 1. Reading 2. Reading 3.
WEEK 6
Tuesday (What are Null Ecological Models?) Margaret Shearin Oct 2nd
Jared M. Diamond (1975): excerpt from Assembly of species communities (from Foundations)
Edward F. Connor and Daniel S. Simberloff (1979):The assembly of species communities : chance or competition? (from Foundations)
Optional: Null Model analyses of species co-occurrence patterns. Gotelli, N.J. (2000) (link)
Thursday Is Biogeography USeful? Examples from aquatic ecosystems. Jason Godbout Oct 4th
RELEVANT SOFTWARE: Ecosim (link)
WEEK 7
Mike Weiser's species area day
WEEK 8
Tuesday (Synthesizing Biogeographic Principles) Rob Dunn Oct 16th
Please read paper by Rangel et al. (pdf) which was the basis for the working group I just attended
and we can use as an occassion to revisit the theories we have considered so far.
Thursday (Island Biogeography) Megan Supple Oct 18th
Robert H. MacArthur and Edward O. Wilson (1963): An equilibrium theory of insular zoogeography (from Foundations)
James H. Brown (1971): Mammals on mountaintops : nonequilibrium insular biography (from Foundations)
Optional
Sismondo (2000) Domains of Island Biogeography (link)
Daniel S. Simberloff and Edward O. Wilson (1970): Experimental zoogeography of islands : a two-year record of colonization (from Foundations)
Dan responds to himself
SECTION 3 (mostly Historical Biogeography)
WEEK 10 (Carlquist)]-Oct 22nd-Oct 25th
Tuesday-Read review paper (pdf)-Think about how we would write a Carlquist response
Thursday-Present your Carlquist responses.
Week 11 (Historical and Ecological Biogeography of Australia)
Tuesday (Patterns of Diversity and Distribution in Australia) Neil McCoy Oct. 30
Dunn et al. (Diversity by dispersal mode)
Paper on Granivorous Bird Diversity. Paper on Eucalyptus Diversity.
Thursday Mar 24th (Historical Biogeography of Australia) Davys Lenzi Nov. 1
Williams et al. (2003) Climate change in Australian tropical forests… Proc. Royal Society (link)
Davys and Sussana will introduce the paper and the landscape. The class will then divide up into groups
to discuss aspects of how climate change, like that currently happening in Australia influences, current
macroecological patterns, historical biogeographic patterns and more generally our ability to detect patterns.
Optional
Miller et al. (2005) Ecological collapse in Pleistocene Australia (link)
Crisp et al. (2004) Radiation of the Australian Flora… Proc. Royal Society (link)
Week 11 (Historical and Ecological Biogeography of the SE US)
Tuesday (Patterns of Plant Diversity and Distribution in the Eastern U.S. and Asia) Benoit Guenard Nov. 6
TBA (preferably these will involve taxa students are interested in)
Thursday (Glaciations, Orogenies and Historical Biogeography of the SE US) Rob Colwell Nov 8th
We will have an informal discussion with Rob Colwell in class about his work on insect diversity and diversity more generally, particularly in the context
of climate change . Please read the below papers in preparation for our meetings.
Iverson & Prasad (1998) Predicting abundance of 80 tree species following climate change…Ecological Monographs. (link)
McLachlan, J.S., J.S. Clark, and P.S. Manos. 2005.Molecular indicators of tree migration capacity under rapid climate change. Ecology, 86:2088-2098.
Optional: Hawkins paper on bird diversity and glaciation (link)
WEEK 12 (Extinction, The loss of species and patterns of distribution)
Tuesday (Island Extinctions) Nyeema Harris Nov 13th
Paul S. Martin (1973) The Discovery of America. Science, 179: 969-974 (from Foundations)
Stors Olson and Helen James (1982) Fossil Birds from the Hawaiian Islands: Evidence for Wholesale Extinction by Man before Western Contact. Science 217: 633-635 (from Foundations)
Pimm and Raven (2001) Counting by species… Science (link)
Thursday (Future Extinctions) Marc Weaver Nov 15th
James H. Brown (1971) Mammals on Mountaintops: Non-equilibrium Insular Biogeography. The American Naturalist, 105: 467-478 (from Foundations)
Modern Paper 1: McDonald & Brown. Using montane mammals to model extinction…Conservation Biology, 6: 409-415.
Modern Paper 2: Thomas et al. Global extinctions due to climate change. (link)
SECTION 4 (Reintegration)
WEEK 13 (Conserving the story told in species)
Tuesday (Biogeographic approaches to conservation) Ben Wallace Nov 20th
Papers TBA (Determined by students).Nov 20th
WEEK 14 (Analysis of Datasets and Presentations) Nov 22nd Talitha Nov 27th
Potential Datasets include, Ants of the southeast, Western Australian Plants, Primate Parasites, or your own datasets.
Projects\\
Project 1
Assignment 1
Using the readings from the text and resources elsewhere (look on JSTOR, History of Science databases and http://www.wku.edu/%7Esmithch/chronob/homelist.htm) trace the history of an important concept in biogeography from its origin to its current state. Possible concepts include but are not limited to the latitudinal or elevational diversity gradients, the parallels between elevation and latitude, the relationship between heat and diversity, the species/area relationship, niches (by other names), habitats, bioregions, convergence or something else. In lieu of tracing the history of a concept, you could also trace the history of some biogeographic feature, such as Wallace’s line or the Cape Floristic Province.
The assignment should be in essay format and should no longer than one thousand words and preferably 500 words (This description of the project is already 386 words). For an example of how you might structure the essay, see the attached PDF of a recent article by Bradford Hawkins. Note that Hawkins gets the history of the study of latitudinal gradients a little wrong (He begins with Humboldt, but the concept certainly turns up as early as the works of Johann Forster). So, technically, I actually think that your essays should and could be better than that of Hawkins. A good essay will trace the history of the chosen concept not only in the sense of describing who developed the concept and how it has changed through time, but should also provide some historical and scientific context. Forster, for example, was among the first to notice the latitudinal gradient in part because he was one of the first in the generation that actually left Europe to do biogeography rather than relying on specimens sent back by pirates and other ner’ do wells (If you do choose to write about the latitudinal diversity gradient, you have the additional task of finding some good references to it the predate Forster). A great essay should also be interesting to read and offer new insights into the history of the concept begin discussed.
Your audience for the essay (and for the other two projects in the course) should be a scientific audience. The essay should include literature cited and can, if useful, include footnotes.
Essays should be written individually, but there is probably some benefit to teaming up to cover related topics (e.g. a pair of people working on diversity gradients and species/area relationships might be able to help each other out).
Project 2
Ecological Biogeography ultimately seeks to understand the “general” relationships between factors such as temperature and diversity and the mechanisms underlying those relationships. In general, ecological biogeography is separate from historical biogeography. One interesting exception to the distinctions between ecological biogeography and historical biogeography can be found in the work of Carlquist. Carlquist offered a series of potentially general hypotheses about the origin of island floras and faunas and about dispersal, vicariance and community assembly more generally. Your task is to track Carlquist's idea through into recent work to see the extent to which current data do or do not support the hypothesis in question. In your groups, write 1-2 paragraphs about the current state of each hypothesis, whether it is being explicitly considered, and whether a more promising theory/hypothesis has emerged.
A set of paragraphs might go something like this...
Theory-Island faunas tend to disperse from mountains...
The theory that island faunas disperse from mountains originally emerged from work by Crankshaft (1102). Crankshaft, in early Hebrew suggested that mountain faunas uniquely populate islands via dispersal in clouds. Carlquist was among the first to more formally consider this concept. Although the concept appears throughout more recent literature, it does not appear to have formally tested and the relative support for the theory has not been reviewed.
If the theory were to hold, we would expect that island lineages would have, as their closest relatives, mountain clades and that this pattern would hold both for multiple taxa for particular island chains (e.g. Hawaii) and also for multiple groups of oceanic islands. To date empirical support is mixed... describe key exampels here....
Overall, there does appear to be some support for contributions of mountain faunas to island faunas. There are, as would be expected, exceptions, but it is not clear that such exceptions violate the rule as a general concept. A key test will ultimately be understanding the relative frequency of the habitats which island faunas descend from, a method that is still precluded by a lack of data. It is not clear that this theory offers any insight with regard to our newest experiment in island arrival, invasion. Invasives do not tend to come from mountain faunas (typically the reverse) and so invasion appears to be introducing a fundamentally different set of species than would have long-distance dispersal prehistorically.
*******
Assignments should be developed and completed (and will be graded) as a group. Your group is responsible for self policing with regard to work.
Ultimately, we are seeking to bring these concepts together to try to generate something resembling a paper that might be title something along the lines of "Reconsindering Carlquist's Island Laws, are there Lessons for Invasions?"
Project 3 (due the last week of class)
The final project in the class will be an analysis (conceptual, statistical or otherwise) of some aspect ecological biogeography. Ideally, you will address a question that was raised in the early literature of biogeography but remains poorly addressed. You have a lot of flexibility in what you do for this project and I ultimately want the project to be useful for your dissertation work or research more generally.
WEEK 10 (others)
Tuesday-Oc 23rd
Thursday (Ranges and Climate Change) Rob Oct 25th Brenda Johnson
Eric Hultén (1959) Outline of the History of Arctic and Boreal Biota During the Quarternary Period. (from Foundations)
Philip V. Wells and Rainer Berger (1967) Late Pleistocene History of Coniferous Woodland in the Mohave Desert. Science 155:1640-1647 (from Foundations)
Optional Reading: John R. Flenley (1979) The Late Quaternary Vegetational History of the Equatorial Mountains. Progress in Physical Geography 3: 488-409 (from Foundations)
Modern Paper: Dynesius and Jansson, PNAS 2000 (link)