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THE GEOGRAPHY OF LIFE

One would hardly expect to find a polar bear in Florida or a palm tree in Alaska—at least, outside of a zoo or botanical garden. Yet we are not sur­prised to find white-tailed deer in both places, along with black bears, song sparrows, honeybees, dandelions, and daisies. It is obvious that organisms are not uniformly distributed throughout the Earth. But what is it that governs their distribution? Basi­cally, living things are restricted to areas in which available habitats (local environments) and poten­tial life styles fit their adaptations. The greater the physical differences among habitats, the greater the differences among the groups of creatures that inhabit them.