Biogeography 5th Edition

Biogeography, first published  in 1983, is one of the most comprehensive text and general reference  books in the natural sciences. The fifth edition builds on the strengths  of previous editions to provide an insightful and integrative  explanation of how geographic variation across terrestrial and marine  environments has influenced the fundamental processes of immigration,  extinction, and evolution to shape species distributions and nearly all  patterns of biological diversity. It is an empirically and conceptually  rich text that illustrates general patterns and processes using examples  from a broad diversity of life forms, time periods and aquatic and  terrestrial ecosystems.

Biogeography, Fifth Edition, is written as a primary text for undergraduate and  graduate courses, and is also an invaluable reference for  biogeographers, ecologists, evolutionary biologists, and conservation  biologists. Its fundamental assertion is that patterns in biological  diversity make little sense unless viewed within an explicit geographic  context. Starting from principal patterns and fundamental principles,  and assuming only a rudimentary knowledge of biology, geography, and  Earth history, the text explains the relationships between geographic  variation in biological diversity and the geological, ecological, and  evolutionary processes that have produced them.

The use of color  illustrations, evaluated and optimized for colorblind readers, has  transformed our abilities to illustrate key concepts and empirical  patterns in the geography of nature. By providing a description of the  historical development of biogeography, evolution and ecology, along  with a comprehensive account of the principal patterns, fundamental  principles and recent advances in each of these fields of science, our  ultimate vision is for Biogeography to serve as the centerpiece of a one- or two-semester core course in biological diversity.