An Update of Wallace’s Zoogeographic Regions of the World

• DOI: 10.1126/science.1228282
• Publication Date: 2012-12-21T09:09:04Z
• Authors: Ben G. Holt; Jean-Philippe Les...; Michael K. Borreg...; Susanne A. Fritz; Miguel B. Araújo; Dimitar Dimitrov; Pierre-Henri Fabre; Catherine H. Graham; Gary R. Graves; Knud A. Jønsson; David Nogués-Bravo; Zhiheng Wang; Robert J. Whittaker; Jon Fjeldså; Carsten Rahbek
• Keywords: Mammals; 0106 biological sciences; Climate; bats; bat; Biodiversity; 15. Life on land; 01 natural sciences; Amphibians; Birds; Phylogeography; Chiroptera; Mammalia; Animals; Animalia; Chordata; Phylogeny

Next-Generation BiogeographyIn 1876, Alfred Russel Wallace mapped the zoogeographical regions of the world, based on the distributions and taxonomic relationships of broadly defined mammalian families. Wallace's classification of zoogeographical regions became a cornerstone of modern biogeography and a reference for a wide variety of biological disciplines, including global biodiversity and conservation sciences.Holtet al.(p.74, published online 20 December) present a next-generation map of wallacean zoogeographic regions, incorporating phylogenetic data on >20,000 vertebrate species to discern and characterize their natural biogeographic patterns.