Biogeography
Topic: Geography as a Discipline: Nature, Branches and Approaches · NCERT: Class 11, Ch 1 "Geography as a Discipline"
Meaning
Biogeography grew at the meeting point of physical and human geography. It studies where living things are found and why. It has four parts. Plant geography studies vegetation. Zoogeography studies animals. Ecology (ecosystem) studies the habitats of species, meaning the places where they live. Environmental geography studies problems such as land degradation (land losing its quality) and pollution, and how to conserve nature.
Example
The Sundarbans in the Ganga–Brahmaputra delta of West Bengal shows all four parts. It has mangrove forests (plant geography), the Bengal tiger (zoogeography) and a salty tidal habitat (ecology). It also faces threats from rising seas and from people, which raises conservation questions (environmental geography).
Don't confuse with
- Physical geography: biogeography is not purely physical. It sits between physical and human geography, because people affect habitats. "Biogeography is purely a branch of physical geography" is false.