perspective: Musings on the Acropolis: Terminology for biogeography

Abstract

Biogeography, like all science, is better served when its vocabulary usage is precise, organized and simple. In this light, I examine three intertwined sets of concepts concerning scale and diversity. First, I show how ‘scale’ consists of four components: sampling unit, grain, focus and extent. Using those more precise terms prevents potential ambiguities in communication. I also clear up a confusion in the usage of ‘focus’ that I promulgated in an earlier paper. Second, I explain how organizing our concepts concerning species richness relationships both disambiguates those concepts and leads to the develop‐ ment of new theories. Third, I explore the multitudinous ideas and terms that have collected under the general concept of ‘diversity’ and propose one scheme for simplifying current confusions. Biogeography is in a period of unification of its disparate threads of ecology, phylogeography and phylogenetics. In weaving together concepts of scale and diversity, I hope that this essay contributes to that unification.