Editing Biogeography (section)

==Concepts and fields==
Biogeography is a synthetic science, related to [[geography]], [[biology]], [[soil science]], [[geology]], [[climatology]], [[ecology]] and [[evolution]].

Some fundamental concepts in biogeography include:
* [[allopatric speciation]]&nbsp;– the splitting of a species by evolution of geographically isolated populations
* [[evolution]]&nbsp;– change in genetic composition of a population
* [[extinction]]&nbsp;– disappearance of a species
* [[Biological dispersal|dispersal]]&nbsp;– movement of populations away from their point of origin, related to [[Animal migration|migration]]
* [[endemism|endemic]] areas
* [[geodispersal]]&nbsp;– the erosion of barriers to [[wikt:biotic|biotic]] dispersal and gene flow, that permit range expansion and the merging of previously isolated [[biota (ecology)|biotas]]
* [[range (biology)|range]] and [[Population distribution|distribution]]
* [[vicariance]]&nbsp;– the formation of barriers to biotic dispersal and gene flow, that tend to subdivide species and biotas, leading to speciation and extinction; [[vicariance biogeography]] is the field that studies these patterns

===Comparative biogeography===
The study of comparative biogeography can follow two main lines of investigation:<ref>{{cite book|first1=Lynne R|last1=Parenti|first2=Malte C|last2=Ebach|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=K1GU_1I6bG4C|title=Comparative Biogeography: Discovering and Classifying Biogeographical Patterns of a Dynamic Earth|chapter=Introduction|date=18 November 2009 |page=9|publisher=University of California Press |isbn=978-0-520-94439-8 }}</ref>
* [[Systematic biogeography]], the study of biotic area relationships, their distribution, and hierarchical classification
* [[Evolutionary biogeography]], the proposal of evolutionary mechanisms responsible for organismal distributions. Possible mechanisms include widespread taxa disrupted by continental break-up or individual episodes of long-distance movement.