Zoogeografia

The educational text “Zoogeography” sheds light on the basic principles and historical development of animal distribution on Earth subjected to environmental factors. Based on modern methods and research techniques, the zoogeography is a dynamically developing discipline. Problematics of Quaternary paleoclimate cycles, and Holocene and postglacial climate development that played an important role in dynamics of animal distributional ranges is analysed. Analysis of distributional ranges is focused on characterization and sorting of animal ranges and their dynamics linked to speciation. Zoogeographic regions are defined based on endemic families, with special attention to Palaearctic region. The chapter on dynamic zoogeography basically resolves the problematics of refugia and relicts in association with the Pleistocene paleoclimate. The text concisely summarizes the basic anthropogenic factors that drastically limit animal distribution by quickly disappearing natural environments in the recent period. Biogeography of  the Carpathian Mts is characterized in concise form with respect to fauna of Slovakia. In the last part of the text phylogeography is presented as a modern scientific discipline concentrated on reconstruction of migration routes in the postglacial period based on molecular markers of populations in broader geographic context.