Unravelling the complexity of Mexican biogeographical patterns by naturalists in the 19th century: From Alexander von Humboldt (1769-1859) to Francis Sumichrast (1829-1882)
Por:
Juarez-Barrera, Fabiola, Luna Vega, Isolda, Morrone, Juan J., Bueno-Hernandez, Alfredo, Espinosa, David
Publicada:
25 ago 2020
Resumen:
Gonzalo Halffter developed the concept of a transition zone in Mexico
during the mid-twentieth century, when he superimposed the
distributional patterns of different groups of Coleoptera, finding that
some groups share a common biogeographical history. The complexity of
the Mexican biogeographical patterns had already caught the eyes of
nineteenth-century naturalists, who tried to discern some kind of order
within this biotic complexity. Herein, we analyse the original studies
of different nineteenth-century authors on the distributional patterns
of different Mexican taxa, highlighting the main explanations provided
by them. The complexity of the Mexican biota was interpreted by Humboldt
as the result of the interaction between northern and southern floras,
as a taxonomic peculiarity by Augustin de Candolle, as a strong biotic
replacement by Alphonse de Candolle and Sumichrast, and as different
dispersal stages by Wallace. Before the theory of evolution was
accepted, different biogeographical patterns (endemism, diversity and
taxonomic replacement gradients, among others) had coexisted without
contradictions. Botanical and zoological regions first acquired a
connotation of independent centres of creation, and the wider
distributions (mainly disjunct distributions) later became the backbone
of hypotheses concerning historical relationships between biotas based
on a dispersalist model. Nevertheless, during the 20th century, the
explanations of 19th century naturalists such as the limits between
regions and biotic transition entered the biogeographical debate again.
Filiaciones:
Juarez-Barrera, Fabiola:
Univ Nacl Autonoma Mexico, Coordinac Estudios Posgrad, Programa Posgrado Ciencias Biol, Mexico City 04510, DF, Mexico
Univ Nacl Autonoma Mexico, Fac Estudios Super Zaragoza, Mexico City 09230, DF, Mexico
Luna Vega, Isolda:
Univ Nacl Autonoma Mexico, Fac Ciencias, Dept Biol Evolut, Mexico City 04510, DF, Mexico
Morrone, Juan J.:
Univ Nacl Autonoma Mexico, Fac Ciencias, Dept Biol Evolut, Mexico City 04510, DF, Mexico
Bueno-Hernandez, Alfredo:
Univ Nacl Autonoma Mexico, Fac Estudios Super Zaragoza, Mexico City 09230, DF, Mexico
Espinosa, David:
Univ Nacl Autonoma Mexico, Fac Estudios Super Zaragoza, Mexico City 09230, DF, Mexico
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