15 Keynote: Earth Life Sciences across the Cordillera
This session showcases interdisciplinary research that bridges geological sciences with allied fields including (but not limited to) genetics, ecology, biogeography, archaeology, informatics to emphasize innovative approaches to understand the interconnectedness of Earth systems.
Wednesday, 22 April 2026
6:00 PM - 7:00 PM
LMH, Fiesta Terrace Salon
“Earth and Life Evolve Together”: A Brief History of the Emergence of an Integrative Approach to Addressing Earth History and the Geography of Life
Paper number: 15-0
Program: Technical Sessions
Time: 6:00 PM – 6:45 PM
Authors
Abstract
The discipline of Biogeography can most simply be defined as ‘The Geography of Life’. As such, it is that branch of biology that most closely tracks evolution, ecology, and biodiversity as they are associated with geology and climate—including a history of geological and paleoclimatic dynamics. The foundations for a modern science of biogeography began with the stunning visual cross-section of Mount Chimborazo in Ecuador by Alexander von Humboldt in 1805 and the fossil-based stratigraphic map of England, Wales, and parts of Scotland by William Smith in 1815—both being inspirations to Charles Darwin and Alfred Russell Wallace as they advanced knowledge and theory on geographic distributions and evolution in the later 1800s. Yet, all investigators were constrained to conceptualize the geography of life on a more or less ‘historically stable earth’ prior to broad acceptance of plate tectonics built on theory and evidence developed by, e.g., Hess, Dietz, Vine, and Matthews in the early 1960s. My goal in this talk is to develop a very brief history of phases and paradigm shifts in biogeography, particularly within their geological and paleoclimatic backgrounds. I will show how these were at first large-scale shifts between earlier ‘dispersal’ to later ‘vicariance’ thinking, and then began to merge that often contentious dichotomy into a richer and more realistic recognition of the role of both processes in the geography of life. Along the way, a shift to a focus on molecular approaches to reconstructing evolutionary and ecological histories has been critical, as have development of explicitly integrative research groups that include genomics-based biologists, geologists, and paleontologists that are making tremendous advances in our understanding of just how “Earth and Life Evolve Together”.
Geological Society of America Abstracts with Programs. Vol. 58, No. 3
doi: 10.1130/abs/2026CD-410932
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