Biogeography

BIOGEOGRAPHY (from bio... and geography), the science of the patterns of distribution and distribution around the globe of various biocenoses, as well as animals, plants and microorganisms (species, genera, etc. taxonomich. B. frontier science, lying at the junction of biology and geography. B. includes the following sections: geography of organisms, it includes: geography of microorganisms; geography of plants; geography of animals; general geography of organisms; and geography of vegetation and animal population, it includes: geography of microbocenoses; geography of phytocenoses (vegetation cover); geography of zoocenoses (animal population); geography of biocenoses.

Some authors (French scientist E. Martonne, sov. scientist V. G. Heptner, Czech. scientist F. Vitasek, fin. researchers L. Aario and X. Janus) believe that B. is only a combination of botanical geography and zoogeography, others (Soviet scientist V. B. Sochava) - that it represents, as it were, a superstructure over these sciences, studying the most general laws of organic geography. the world of the Earth.

Various subsections of B. developed at the same time. To the beginning . In the 19th century, information on the geography of animals and the geography of plants was accumulated. Works by him. the scientist A. Humboldt (beginning of the 19th century) initiated the research of the geography of phytocenoses, which therefore achieved success in con. 2nd floor. 19th century. (Russian scientist I. G. Borshchov, German. scientists A. Schimper, A. Grisebach, dat. scientist E. Warming et al.). In Con. 19 - beginning. Some problems of the geography of biocenoses were developed in the 20th century (Polish. scientist I. K. Pachosky, Russian scientists G. F. Morozov, V. N. Sukachev) and geography of zoocenoses (German scientists E. Yeager, F. Dahl, Amer. scientists E. Forbes, V. Shelford, et al.).The geography of microorganisms and microbocenoses originated in the 20th century; these subsections of B. should be attributed to the most poorly developed. B.'s tasks were formulated by him. scientist A. Brower (1914). Summary works on B. were published by kanad. scientist P. Dansero (1957), sov. scientist A. G. Voronov (1963); in application to a specific territory - S. D. Matveev (1961); numerous. The research is devoted to the study of the World Ocean and its parts (Soviet scientist L. A. Zenkevich, 1963, etc.).

There are a number of main directions of B.: arealological, floristic. and faunistic., regional, ecological. and historical, in which certain successes have been achieved. In the field of arealology, the ranges (areas of distribution) have been established, hence the number of species, the study of the laws of the placement of species within the ranges has begun, methods of mapping the ranges and their structure are being developed, in particular, the compilation of reference and cadastral maps. Floristic and faunal studies have not covered all systematic groups to the same extent; most classes of invertebrates and lower plants have been poorly studied. B. approaches the study of the distribution of geographical elements of fauna and flora by communities (e.g., non-marine fauna and flora), as well as the study of the degree of participation of these elements in various communities (forest, steppe, meadow, etc.). Regional B. came up with the allocation of floristic. and faunistic. regions to the need to take into account not only endemic, but also taxa characteristic of this region, as well as to assess the abundance of individuals of various species. Large regions (regions, subdomains) that are uniform for all systematic groups of animals, plants and microorganisms have been identified; however, the allocation of smaller regions (districts, sites) is not always possible due to the fact that different groups of organisms that differ from each other in their trophic. communications , etc . features, have different patterns of placement. In ecological biology, the study of biomass, biological productivity and the role of organisms in the life of natural-territorial complexes, in particular in energy conversion, is becoming increasingly important; various ecological groups of organisms that are part of communities, their significance in the structure of communities, geogr. are studied from this angle. features of the relationship between organisms. Of particular importance is the study of biogeography. aspects of human impact on organisms. Historical B. explores the influence of geologic. the Earth's past on the modern distribution of biocenoses and organisms. Reliability of historical and biogeographic. It depends on the reliability of the hypotheses used by it about the change in the structure of the Earth and its organic structure. the world during the geologic. stories.

B. uses methods: comparative-geographical. (comparison of features of fauna, flora, vegetation, cover, animal population of various natural-territorial complexes), ecological. (the establishment of interaction is organic. world with other components of natural-territorial complexes), quantitative (establishment of patterns of distribution of biomass and biological products), historical. and cartographic.

B. belongs to the sciences of the biosphere, the doctrine of which was developed by V. I. Vernadsky. B. is closely related to biocenology, ecology, biogeocenology. The subjects of research of B. and biocenology partially overlap: the composition of B. includes (along with other subsections) and the geography of biocenoses.

B. presents the theoretical basis for the rational use of the resources of the plant, cover and animal population, developing norms and deadlines for the use of resources in connection with the peculiarities of the geographical environment; the extraction of fur-bearing animals and game, the collection of medicines, and technical. plant raw materials, the use of forage herbs is impossible without knowledge of abundance, growth, etc. quantities, indicators in different regions. The development of measures to control pests of villages, forest and with pathogens, carriers and vectors of a number of human diseases is largely based on knowledge of the peculiarities of their distribution and quantities, patterns of distribution within the area. The correct organization of nature protection is based on the study of biogeography. features of various zones and physical and geographical areas.

In the USSR, there are departments of B. in Moscow. and Leningr. un-tah and the Department of Biogeography at the Institute of Geography of the USSR Academy of Sciences; B. commissions work in the All-Union Geografich. the region and its Moscow. branch. B. teach at geografich. f-tah universities. All-Union Institute of Scientific and Technical information (VINITI) publishes an abstract journal. "Biogeography".