Description: A zoögeographic map of North America and Central America from 1906 showing life zones of the region based on climate conditions. "Almost any given animal inhabits a more or less restricted geographic area, known as its "range," the limits of which are determined by climatic conditions (temperature and moisture) or by the interrelation of land areas, since intervening bodies of water serve as barriers to the dispersal of the species. Of these two factors temperature is vastly more important than moisture, and naturalists have been able to demonstrate a remarkably close correlation of life zones to isothermal lines. [...] To facilitate the comparative study of animal life, naturalists have divided the earth's surface into so–called zoögeographic areas. It includes in an arctic realm the entire land north of the annual isotherm of 32° F.; the area between 32° F. and 70° F. in the north temperate realm. The portions of these realms falling within North America are designated respectively as the North American arctic region and the North American temperate region. The latter comprises almost the entire continent, and is subdivided into cold temperate and warm temperate sub–regions, the line of division being the isotherm of 43° F., or roughly speaking, the boundary–line between Canada and the United States. South of the North American temperate region is the American tropical realm, including Central America, the West Indies, and a part of Mexico, Florida, and lower California." — Farrand, 1906, pp. 54–57.
Place Names: A Complete Map of North America, Bahamas, Canada, Cuba, Mexico, United State
ISO Topic Categories: biota,
inlandWaters,
location,
oceans,
boundaries
Keywords: Zoögeographic Areas of North America, statistical, political, physical, kBiodiversity, physical features, country borders, vegetation, biota,
inlandWaters,
location,
oceans,
boundaries, Unknown, 1906
Source: Albert Bushnell Hart, LL.D., The American Nation Vol 2 (New York, NY: Harper and Brothers, 1906) 56
Map Credit: Courtesy the private collection of Roy Winkelman |
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