Dec.
20, 2012 — Until today, Alfred Russel Wallace's century old map has been
the backbone for our understanding of global biodiversity. Thanks to advances
in modern technology and data on more than 20,000 species, scientists from
University of Copenhagen have now produced a next generation map depicting the
organisation of life on Earth. Published online in Science Express
today, the new map provides fundamental information regarding the diversity of
life on our planet and is of major significance for future biodiversity
research.
An
essential question in understanding life on Earth is why species are
distributed the way they are across the planet. This new global map shows the
division of nature into 11 large biogeographic realms and shows how these areas
relate to each other.
It
is the first study to combine evolutionary and geographical information for all
known mammals, birds and amphibians, a total of over 20,000 species.
Based
on the work at the Center for Macroecology, Evolution and Climate at the
University of Copenhagen involving 15 international researchers and 20 years of
data compilation, the study is published today in ScienceExpress.
The
first attempt to describe the natural world in an evolutionary context was made
in 1876 by Alfred Russel Wallace, the co-discoverer of the theory of natural
selection, along with Charles Darwin: "Our study is a long overdue update
of one of the most fundamental maps in natural sciences. For the first time
since Wallace's attempt we are finally able to provide a broad description of
the natural world based on incredibly detailed information for thousands of
vertebrate species," says co-lead-author, Dr. Ben Holt from the Center for
Macroecology, Evolution and Climate.
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