Editing Biogeography (section)

===20th and 21st century===
[[File:Snider-Pellegrini Wegener fossil map.svg|thumb|300px|Schematic distribution of fossils on Pangea according to Wegener]]
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.<ref name =Cox /> This theory was revolutionary because it changed the way that everyone thought about species and their distribution around the globe. The theory explained how continents were formerly joined in one large landmass, [[Pangea]], and slowly drifted apart due to the movement of the plates below Earth's surface. The evidence for this theory is in the geological similarities between varying locations around the globe, the geographic distribution of some fossils (including the [[mesosaur]]s) on various continents, and the jigsaw puzzle shape of the landmasses on Earth. Though Wegener did not know the mechanism of this concept of Continental Drift, this contribution to the study of biogeography was significant in the way that it shed light on the importance of environmental and geographic similarities or differences as a result of climate and other pressures on the planet. Importantly, late in his career Wegener recognised that testing his theory required measurement of continental movement rather than inference from fossils species distributions.<ref>{{Cite book|title=International Encyclopedia of Geography: People, the Earth, Environment and Technology|pages = 1–9|last=Trewick|first=Steve|date=2016|publisher=John Wiley & Sons, Ltd|isbn=9781118786352|language=en|doi=10.1002/9781118786352.wbieg0638|chapter = Plate Tectonics in Biogeography}}</ref>

In 1958 [[Paleontology|paleontologist]] [[Paul Schultz Martin|Paul S. Martin]] published ''A Biogeography of Reptiles and Amphibians in the Gómez Farias Region, Tamaulipas, Mexico'', which has been described as "ground-breaking"<ref name="Steadman (2011)">{{cite journal|last=Steadman|first=David W|url=https://www.esa.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/94/2022/02/Martin_PS.pdf|title=Professor Paul Schultz Martin 1928–2010|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220809110057/https://www.esa.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/94/2022/02/Martin_PS.pdf |archive-date=2022-08-09|journal=Bulletin of the Ecological Society of America|date=January 2011|pages=33–46|doi=10.1890/0012-9623-92.1.33 }}</ref>{{rp|35 p.}} and "a classic treatise in historical biogeography".<ref name="Adler (2012)">{{cite book|last=Adler|first=Kraig|year=2012|title=Contributions to Herpetology|volume=29|publisher=Society for the Study of Amphibians and Reptiles|isbn=978-0-916984-82-3}}</ref>{{rp|311 p.}} Martin applied several disciplines including [[ecology]], [[botany]], [[climatology]], [[geology]], and [[Pleistocene]] dispersal routes to examine the herpetofauna of a relatively small and largely undisturbed area, but ecologically complex, situated on the threshold of [[Temperate climate|temperate]] – [[Tropics|tropical]] (nearctic and neotropical) regions, including semiarid lowlands at 70 meters elevation and the northernmost [[cloud forest]] in the western hemisphere at over 2200 meters.<ref name="Steadman (2011)" /><ref name="Adler (2012)" /><ref name="Martin (1958)">{{cite journal|last=Martin|first=Paul S|year=1958|url=https://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/handle/2027.42/56345/MP101.pdf?sequence=1|title=A Biogeography of Reptiles and Amphibians in the Gómez Farias Region, Tamaulipas, Mexico|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230307213128/https://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/handle/2027.42/56345/MP101.pdf?sequence=1 |archive-date=2023-03-07|journal=Miscellaneous Publications|publisher=Museum of Zoology University of Michigan|volume=101|pages=1–102}}</ref>

[[File:Plos wilson.jpg|thumb|Biologist [[E. O. Wilson|Edward O. Wilson]], coauthored ''[[The Theory of Island Biogeography]]'', which helped in stimulating much research on this topic in the late 20th and 21st. centuries.]]

The publication of ''[[The Theory of Island Biogeography]]'' by [[Robert MacArthur]] and [[Edward Osborne Wilson|E.O. Wilson]] in 1967<ref>This work expanded their 1963 paper on the same topic.</ref> showed that the species richness of an area could be predicted in terms of such factors as habitat area, immigration rate and extinction rate. This added to the long-standing interest in [[island biogeography]]. The application of island biogeography theory to [[habitat fragmentation|habitat fragments]] spurred the development of the fields of [[conservation biology]] and [[landscape ecology]].<ref>This applies to British and American academics; landscape ecology has a distinct genesis among European academics.</ref>

Classic biogeography has been expanded by the development of [[molecular systematics]], creating a new discipline known as [[phylogeography]]. This development allowed scientists to test theories about the origin and dispersal of populations, such as [[endemic (ecology)|island endemics]]. For example, while classic biogeographers were able to speculate about the origins of species in the [[Hawaiian Islands]], phylogeography allows them to test theories of relatedness between these populations and putative source populations on various continents, notably in [[Asia]] and [[North America]].<ref name= "Mac"/>

Biogeography continues as a point of study for many life sciences and geography students worldwide, however it may be under different broader titles within institutions such as ecology or evolutionary biology.

In recent years, one of the most important and consequential developments in biogeography has been to show how multiple organisms, including mammals like monkeys and reptiles like [[Squamata|squamates]], overcame barriers such as large oceans that many biogeographers formerly believed were impossible to cross.<ref>{{cite book |title=The Monkey's Voyage: How Improbable Journeys Shaped the History of Life |last=Queiroz, de |first=Alan |year=2014 |publisher=Basic Books |location=New York |isbn=978-0-465-02051-5 |url-access=registration |url=https://archive.org/details/monkeysvoyagehow0000dequ }}</ref> See also [[Oceanic dispersal]].