Biogeografia, mudanças climáticas, e a evolução de nicho

Biogeography, changing climates, and niche evolution

David B. Wake a,b,1, Elizabeth A. Hadly c and David D. Ackerly a,d

+ Author Affiliations

aDepartment of Integrative Biology,

bMuseum of Vertebrate Zoology, and

dJepson Herbarium, University of California, Berkeley, CA 94720; and

cDepartment of Biology, Stanford University, Stanford, CA 94305

Edited by James Hemphill Brown, University of New Mexico, Albuquerque, NM, and approved September 29, 2009 (received for review September 25, 2009)

Modern concepts central to current studies of biogeography, changing climates and evolution of ecological niches were born approximately a hundred years ago. In 1908, the Regents of the University of California established the Museum of Vertebrate Zoology at Berkeley, in accordance with the wishes of Annie M. Alexander (1867–1950). Alexander conceived the institution and selected its first Director, Joseph Grinnell (1877–1939), a well known naturalist who had received his Ph.D. at Stanford University and was then teaching at the Throop Institute in Pasadena (later the California Institute of Technology). Grinnell, who founded the Museum in late 1908, meticulously adhered to the principles laid down by Alexander (1). Alexander would provide the funding and inspiration and Grinnell would do the intellectual and practical work to establish the institution and set it on a trajectory. The Museum quickly became known for its studies of terrestrial vertebrates, conducted in the framework of what we would recognize today as ecology and evolution. The founders were self-conscious of their roles from the beginning. They had no illusions that the work they set out to do would be easy or soon accomplished, if ever. Grinnell (2) set the course:

It will be observed, then, that our efforts are not merely to accumulate as great a mass of animal remains as possible. On the contrary, we are expending even more time than would be required for the collection of the specimens alone, in rendering what we do obtain as permanently valuable as we know how, to the ecologist as well as the systematist. It is quite probable that the facts of distribution, life history, and economic status may finally prove to be of more far-reaching …

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1To whom correspondence should be addressed. E-mail: wakelab@berkeley.edu

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