Life does not stay in one place. Organisms spread out and move around. Plant seeds and fungal spores are carried by the wind and animals cover great distances in search of food. And bacteria? Well, bacteria are just everywhere. But it isn’t just organisms that move—the planet’s tectonic plates move, too. The goal of biogeography is to piece together all of these movements to discover and explain the past and present distribution of life on Earth. It’s a big puzzle with as many moving pieces as there are species that have ever lived.
Watch the video and answer questions 1– 4 below.
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1. How do organisms come to live on newly formed volcanic islands?
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2-3. Click on the button below to answer questions 2-3. Remember to refer to the video if you are not sure of your answers.
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4. Explain how a close relative of an African plant came to be living in the tropical Pacific.
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