Building Blocks of Biogeography: Endemic Areas and Areas of Endemism

This chapter discusses the role of the concept of endemism in biogeography and biodiversity investigations. Endemic areas are the building blocks of biogeography; relationships among them form the basis of biogeographical classification. This classification is a hierarchy incorporating increasingly encompassing areas, such as districts, regions, and realms, which form biotic areas. The concept of an endemic area, the area occupied by a lineage through time, is related to an area of endemism, an area occupied by at least two purportedly monophyletic taxa—at least two, because an area occupied by just one taxon will have no history shared with any other area.