Journal of Biogeography

The species-area relationship: an exploration of that 'most general, yet protean pattern
The generality of the increase in the number of species with the physical space sampled, the species–area relationship, is a fundamentally important biological pattern, of considerable significance for conservation biogeography. This virtual issue of the Journal of Biogeography serves to illustrate the development of ideas concerning the various forms of the species–area relationship from 1974 (the first volume of the journal) to the present day. It features an editorial introduction alongside a set of 24 papers previously published in the journal. The selection includes a number of influential contributions to understanding species–area relationships and their application and we hope may be of value to researchers and educators.
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Conservation Biogeography
Richard J. Ladle, Robert J. Whittaker

The newly emerged sub-discipline of conservation biogeography uses the conceptual tools and methods of biogeography to address real world conservation problems and to provide predictions about the fate of key species and ecosystems over the next century. This book provides the first comprehensive review of the field in a series of closely interlinked chapters addressing the central issues within this exciting and important subject.

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Special Paper

Eighty-three lineages that took over the world: a first review of terrestrial cosmopolitan tetrapods

Conservation concerns have led biologists to focus on species that are naturally range-restricted (endemic), and so likely to be in trouble if their limited range suffers at our hands. Whilst research targeted at cosmopolitan lineages - such as animals and plants that occur naturally throughout the world - has been lacking, understanding the remarkable success of these lineages may prove highly relevant to invasion biology. Read more

Framework for palm biogeography
Two recent companion papers published in the Journal of Biogeography suggest that the low species diversity of palms in Africa is explained by increased in situ diversification in Asia, the Americas, the Pacific and the Indian Ocean, rather than Neogene extinctions in Africa as suggested elsewhere.

Read full release here | Read the first paper here | Read the second paper here

Tarkine a question of values: mines versus ancient rainforest
A recent paper in the Journal of Biogeography provides strong evidence that patterns of ignition by human beings have had huge effects on the distributions of rainforest and other vegetation types.

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Global patterns of amphibian phylogenetic diversity
S. A. Fritz and C. Rahbek

Correlation and process in species distribution models: bridging a dichotomy
C. F. Dormann, S. J. Schymanski, J. Cabral, I. Chuine, C. Graham, F. Hartig,
M. Kearney, X. Morin, C. Römermann, B. Schröder and A. Singer

The Ecological Niche as a Window to Biodiversity
The papers in this special issue arose from two workshops entitled ‘The ecological niche as a window to biodiversity’ held on 26–30 July 2010 and 24–27 January 2011 in Arnoldshain near Frankfurt, Germany. The workshops combined recent advances in our empirical and theoretical understanding of the niche with advances in statistical modelling, with the aim of developing a more mechanistic theory of the niche. The papers outline the areas of research that we feel need to be developed if we are to make improvements to species distribution models, especially through the addition of more biological processes.
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Seed Dispersal on Islands
Island ecosystems are famous as natural laboratories for studies in ecology and evolution because of their isolated and relatively simple ecosystems, and islands have had a central role in the development of biogeography, too. Animal-mediated seed dispersal is an ecosystem process with central implications for the demography of plants and the diversity of plant communities, which, in turn, structure the seed dispersal interactions of the future.
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