Editing Biogeographic realm (section)

==Description==
The realms delineate large areas of Earth's surface within which organisms have evolved in relative isolation over long periods of time, separated by geographic features, such as [[ocean]]s, broad [[desert]]s, or high [[mountain range]]s, that constitute [[natural barrier]]s to migration.  As such, biogeographic realm designations are used to indicate general groupings of organisms based on their shared biogeography.  Biogeographic realms correspond to the [[phytochorion|floristic kingdoms]] of [[botany]] or [[zoogeography|zoogeographic regions]] of [[zoology]].

From 1872, [[Alfred Russel Wallace]] developed a system of zoogeographic regions, extending the [[ornithology|ornithologist]] [[Philip Sclater]]'s system of six regions.<ref name="Holt Lessard Borregaard 2013">{{cite journal |last1=Holt |first1=Ben G. |last2=Lessard |first2=Jean-Philippe |last3=Borregaard |first3=Michael K. |last4=Fritz |first4=Susanne A. |last5=Araújo |first5=Miguel B. |last6=Dimitrov |first6=Dimitar |last7=Fabre |first7=Pierre-Henri |last8=Graham |first8=Catherine H. |last9=Graves |first9=Gary R. |last10=Jønsson |first10=Knud A. |last11=Nogués-Bravo |first11=David |last12=Wang |first12=Zhiheng |last13=Whittaker |first13=Robert J. |last14=Fjeldså |first14=Jon |last15=Rahbek |first15=Carsten |display-authors=3 |title=An Update of Wallace's Zoogeographic Regions of the World |journal=[[Science (journal)|Science]] |volume=339 |issue=6115 |date=4 January 2013 |doi=10.1126/science.1228282 |pages=74–78|pmid=23258408 |bibcode=2013Sci...339...74H |s2cid=1723657 }}</ref>

Biogeographic realms are characterized by the evolutionary history of the organisms they contain. They are distinct from [[biome]]s, also known as major habitat types, which are divisions of the Earth's surface based on ''life form'', or the adaptation of animals, fungi, micro-organisms and plants to climatic, [[soil]], and other conditions. Biomes are characterized by similar [[climax community|climax vegetation]]. Each realm may include a number of different biomes. A [[tropical and subtropical moist broadleaf forests|tropical moist broadleaf forest]] in Central America, for example, may be similar to one in New Guinea in its vegetation type and structure, climate, soils, etc., but these forests are inhabited by animals, fungi, micro-organisms and plants with very different evolutionary histories.{{citation needed|date=August 2021}}

The distribution of organisms among the world's biogeographic realms has been influenced by the distribution of [[landmass|landmass]]es, as shaped by [[plate tectonics]] over the [[geological history of Earth]].