Biogeography, Fifth Edition, is written as a primary text for undergraduate and graduate courses, and is also an invaluable reference for biogeographers, ecologists, evolutionary biologists, and conservation biologists. Its fundamental assertion is that patterns in biological diversity make little sense unless viewed within an explicit geographic context. Starting from principal patterns and fundamental principles, and assuming only a rudimentary knowledge of biology, geography, and Earth history, the text explains the relationships between geographic variation in biological diversity and the geological, ecological, and evolutionary processes that have produced them.