What are regions of the world? By common definition, concept region implies any territory that has one or more common features. Region- synonym for words district, region, continent. There are regions within every continent, country, city. By what principle the attitude of countries to a particular region is determined, we will consider in more detail.

Why share the world?

The planet we live on is vast and diverse. Its distant parts differ significantly in geographic location, climatic conditions, economic development, historical, religious and cultural characteristics. It is much more convenient for a specialist in any issue that goes beyond the framework of one state to unite regions and countries of the world with the same characteristic features in one title. The generally accepted names of the regions are known to the general public, and everyone who is familiar with geography understands what is at stake.

For the study of geography, division into regions is necessary for convenience. There is no need to describe in detail each individual country, if the patterns of its development and geophysical conditions are similar to neighboring ones, especially since the quantitative composition and names of countries change constantly over the course of history. Features of the regions are studied by a separate science - regional studies.

Major regions of the world

The main division is defined by the UN classification system. The division of the world into regions was carried out according to territorial basis, by continent, for the purpose of statistics. It looks like this:

• Europe (Central, Northern, Southern, Eastern and Western).
• Asia (Central, Western, Southern, Eastern and South-Eastern, Northern).
• Africa (Central, Northern, Southern, Western, Eastern).
• America (North or Anglo-America; Central or Caribbean, together with North America are combined in some sources into one region - Latin America; South)
• Australia and Oceania (Australia - New Zealand, Melanesia, Micronesia, Polynesia).

There are 23 regions in total. This division denotes the regions of the world according to the parameters of the physical and geographical position of its territory, the areas of these regions coincide with the areas of the continents and islands, and have a geographical border.

Historical and cultural zoning

The history of the development of peoples, the formation of their cultural heritage, the established groups of languages ​​and dialects are as diverse on the planet as the climatic conditions of life. At the same time, there are countries for which this path was identical, some states broke up into smaller ones, while others merged into one. Historical and cultural regions of the world are areas in which the features of religion, life, cultural heritage, architecture, customs, way of doing business, and even the basic set of food products, have similar properties that distinguish this area from others. The boundaries of these regions may coincide with geographical division, but not necessarily.

Examples of regions of the world with common historical and cultural traditions:

• North Africa and Middle East. The territory of the admirers of Islam, through which the caravans of merchants from all over the world passed.
• North America- an area in which the original culture of the natives was almost completely destroyed, and its representatives themselves too. A new community of representatives of nationalities of all continents has fully developed.
• Oceania - remote from other civilizations, the peoples of this region have created an original culture that is not similar and incomprehensible to other peoples.

Ecoregions

Ecological regions of the world, or natural areas, - very vast territories that are united by a similar landscape, climatic conditions representatives of flora and fauna. Ecoregions are located on the planet mainly by latitudes, but they have a different location and width, depending on the relief and proximity to the ocean. Borders natural regions for the most part do not coincide with the borders of powers or historical areas, they are determined by the distribution of warm and cold air and the distance from the oceans.

Examples of ecoregions: tropics, equatorial forests, deserts, steppes, taiga, tundra, arctic deserts.

Tourist regions

The tourism business also considers in its activities the division of the world into regions, taking into account recreational opportunities places, proposed recreation for the tourist: nature; historical and cultural heritage; ecological, social, infrastructural situation.

The World Tourism Organization (UNWTO) adopted 5 tourist regions, which, in turn, are divided into 14 sub-regions.

Regions of the world by tourist destinations:

• Europe.
• Asia and Pacific countries.
• America.
• Africa.
• Near East.

Economic division

Economists divide the world in their own way. Economically, regions differ from geographic, climatic, or historical regions. The principle of their division is the level of economic development of the state. According to the UN, the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund, countries are divided according to the degree of development of a market economy, according to the socio-political system, according to the level of development.

Floristic zoning is called the division of the surface the globe into floristic regions of various ranks ( phytochoriones, or phytochoria). Each region is a territory within which the flora is more or less homogeneous, of the same type, has its own specifics, and to a greater or lesser extent lesser degree different from the flora of other regions. In floristic zoning, territorial units of various ranks are distinguished, which are in strict subordination.

most large unit floristic zoning is a kingdom. Six kingdoms are distinguished on the globe: Holarctic (Holarctis), Paleotropical (Palaeotropis), Neotropical (Neotropis), Cape (Capensis), Australian (Australis) and Holantarctic (Antarctis) ( rice. 15.18). Floristic kingdoms are divided into regions, regions - into provinces, provinces - into districts. Floristic districts can be subdivided into floristic regions, and the latter into regions of specific floras.

The kingdoms are characterized by endemic families, and very high generic and specific endemism. Areas, as a rule, do not have endemic families, but the degree of generic and specific endemism is very high. The floras of the provinces and districts are dominated by endemic species. Differences in the flora of neighboring floristic regions are even smaller. It should be noted that there are usually no clear boundaries between individual phytochorions in nature, and they have to be drawn more or less conditionally. The composition of the floras changes in space, sometimes faster, sometimes more slowly, but most often gradually, not sharply.

Floristic kingdoms are territories that differ greatly from one another in flora. These differences cannot be explained by some modern factors, such as climatic conditions. Historical factors played a decisive role in the formation of the flora of a particular kingdom.

Rice. 15.18. Floristic kingdoms of the Earth: I - Holarctic; II - Paleotropic; III - Neotropical; IV - Cape; V - Australian; VI - Holanctic.

Holarctic realm- the largest in terms of area. It occupies more than half of the entire land mass of the globe and covers the entire extratropical part of the Northern Hemisphere. However, the Holarctic flora is rather poor - only about 30 thousand species.

There are more than 30 endemic plant families in the Holarctic kingdom (ginkgaceae, eucommiaceae, peony, diapensia, adox, susak, etc.). However, all these families are small, very few in number of representatives, often including only one species. The flora of the Holarctic kingdom is much better characterized by some, although not endemic, but widespread families here. The overwhelming majority of the species of these families is confined to Holarctic. Such families include ranunculus, birch, clove, haze, buckwheat, willow, cruciferous, umbrella and a number of others. Of the gymnosperms, the families of pine and cypress should be mentioned. In the flora of the Holarctic kingdom, there are a lot of endemic genera and species.

The Holarctic realm is subdivided into three sub-kingdoms. The largest in area and richest in floristic terms is the Boreal sub-kingdom. It includes almost all of Europe, a significant part of Asia and North America. Within the sub-kingdom, four regions are distinguished. The territory of Russia is entirely included in the largest of them, the Circumboreal Region. There are no endemic families in its flora, and there are relatively few endemic genera. Characteristic genera that are widespread in this area are oak ( Quercus), Birch ( Betula), alder ( Alnus), maple ( Acer), poplar ( Populus), willow ( Salix), hawthorn ( Crataegus), pear ( Pyrus), Apple tree ( Malus), Rowan ( Sorbus) and many others.

Paleotropical realm takes vast territory in the tropical region of the Old World and is second in area only to the Holarctic. It includes Africa (except for the northern part and the extreme south), the island of Madagascar, India, Indochina, numerous large and small islands between Asia and Australia, and many island territories in the Pacific Ocean. Thus, the territory of the kingdom is highly dissected, and its individual parts are widely scattered within tropical zone from Africa to Polynesia. However, flora different districts kingdoms have a lot in common.

First of all, it is necessary to note the exceptional richness of the flora of the territory under consideration. Many tens of thousands of species are found here. The flora of the kingdom is quite peculiar, it includes about 40 endemic families (non-Penthes, banana, pandanus, etc.). The number of endemic genera and especially species is so great that it cannot be accurately counted.

In the kingdom under consideration, the mulberry family is richly represented, especially the ficus genus ( Ficus), with over 1000 species. Families of dipterocarp, balsam, euphorbia, aralia, aroid, ginger, etc. are widespread. Some genera of palms are characteristic of Paleotropis, for example, borassus ( Borassus), gifene ( Hyphaene), raffia ( Raphia), etc. There are many genera of cycads - very ancient gymnosperms, in appearance somewhat reminiscent of palm trees.

The Paleotropical kingdom is divided into five sub-kingdoms.

Neotropical realm includes the majority South America(north of 30°S), Central America down to southern Mexico, islands caribbean and southern tip peninsula Florida. The Neotropical kingdom is quite extensive in area, but still inferior in this respect to Paleotropis and even more so to Holarctic.

The flora of the kingdom is unusually rich and, in terms of the number of species, is comparable only to the flora of Paleotropis. There are many tens of thousands of species belonging to several hundred families. Exact number species is unknown. The species richness of the kingdom can be judged at least by the fact that the flora of Brazil alone contains more than 40,000 species.

The flora of Neotropis is distinguished by its great originality. There are about 25 endemic families here, great amount endemic genera and especially species.

In the Neotropical kingdom, such families as nasturtium, cactus, cyanotic, aroid, bromeliads, etc. are widespread. It is in Neotropis that the vast majority of representatives of the cactus family are found in natural communities. Begonia genus ( Begonia), represented here by very many species, as well as the fuchsia genera ( Fuchsia), yucca ( Yucca), agave ( Agave).

Neotropis also has its own special genera of palms, for example, Chamedorea ( Chamaedorea), Mauritia ( Mauritius), sabal ( Sabal) and etc.

Cape- the smallest in area. It occupies a small area of far south Africa. However, its flora is exceptionally rich (about 7,000 species) and unique. It differs sharply from the flora of neighboring territories located to the north.

In the Cape floristic kingdom, there are seven endemic families, more than 210 endemic genera. The genus Amaryllis is also endemic to the Cape kingdom ( Amaryllis), which includes those familiar to many houseplants. It is interesting to note that there are 14 endemic genera from a very ancient family of Proteaceae (the bulk of the species of this family is concentrated in Australia). Such endemic genera as Protea are especially rich in species ( Protea) and leucadendron ( Leucadendron). A large species diversity is also observed in some genera that are not endemic and belong to different families. So, in the genus heather ( Erica) there are over 600 species, in the genus Pelargonium ( Pelargonium) - more than 200. An abundance of species belonging to the families of Amaryllis, Iris and Restionaceae is characteristic.

The peculiarity, originality of the flora of the Cape kingdom is explained by the fact that vegetable world this territory long time developed in isolation. The barrier to the exchange of flora with the rest of the African continent is currently served by the deserts located north of the Cape kingdom. It is they that prevent the Cape flora from mixing with neighboring floras.

Australian realm includes Australia and the neighboring island of Tasmania, as well as some smaller islands. The Australian kingdom occupies a completely isolated position. It is separated from the rest of the land by more or less extensive sea ​​spaces. The territory of the kingdom is quite large, in size it is only slightly smaller than Europe.

The flora of the Australian kingdom is very rich (about 15,000 species), extremely original, original and contains many ancient plants. The Australian flora is characterized by very high endemism at all levels. There are more than a dozen endemic families here, there are about 570 endemic genera. The share of endemic species in general reaches 75-80%, in some areas this figure is even higher.

There are many characteristic families in the Australian flora. Among them it is necessary to name first of all the family of Proteaceae. Most of the species of this family (over 700) are concentrated here. The most species-rich genera of Proteaceae are Grevillea ( Grevillea), hakeya ( hakea), banksia ( Banksia). Among the characteristic Australian flora is the casuarina family. It includes trees of a peculiar appearance, somewhat reminiscent of appearance coniferous.

But nevertheless, eucalyptus and acacia should be considered the most characteristic of the Australian flora. There are more than 600 species of eucalyptus here (genus Eucalyptus belongs to the myrtle family). Most of them are trees, but there are also shrubs. Almost all eucalyptus trees are evergreens. acacia ( Acacia), like eucalyptus trees, are very numerous (more than 500 species) and very diverse. These are evergreen trees and shrubs. Many acacias develop phyllodes instead of true leaves - flat green petioles of various shapes.

One of the remarkable features of the flora of the Australian kingdom is the absence of some widespread plant families and even larger taxa on other continents. There are no, for example, horsetails, bamboos, representatives of the subfamily of the apple family of the Rosaceae family. There are no families of heather, begonia, valerian, tea. This phenomenon is sometimes referred to as “flora defectiveness”.

Holantarctic realm located in southern hemisphere, and in relatively high latitudes. It includes southern part South America (from about 30° S), New Zealand, insignificant, not covered with ice, areas of Antarctica and numerous small islands located in the southern part of the Atlantic, Indian and Pacific Oceans. The territory of the kingdom is relatively small and extremely fragmented. Separate parts of the kingdom are located very far from each other, separated by vast expanses of sea. Nevertheless, the flora of all these land areas has clear similarities. There's a lot common birth and even types. As an example of such genera, one can name colobanthus (Colobanthus) from the clove family, azorella (Azorella) from the umbrella family, as an example of species - stemless buttercup (Ranunculus acaulis), tripartite sedge (Carex trifida).

The Holantarctic kingdom is significantly inferior in the number of species to all other kingdoms. Here there are total slightly more than 2000 species, however, the originality of the flora is quite large. There are ten endemic families. All of them are very few in number, there are few species, and sometimes only one. There are quite a lot of endemic or almost endemic genera, most of them are characterized by a broken range. Endemism on species level very high - about 75%.

The Holantarctic kingdom is characterized by the genus Antarctic, or southern, beech ( Nothofagus). Representatives of this genus are trees and shrubs closely related to the beeches of the Northern Hemisphere. Some of them are evergreen, others are deciduous. Within the considered kingdom, Antarctic beech species are found only in South America and New Zealand.

Among the notable representatives of the flora of the Holantarctic kingdom, one can name the genus Podocarpus ( Podocarpus) - one of the ancient primitive genera of conifers, species of podocarpus are found in South America and New Zealand.

1. Find and show on the map of the country:

a) the Mediterranean region,

b) the countries of the Balkan region;

c) countries of the Caribbean region;

d) countries of Latin America.

a) The Mediterranean region combines the countries of two continents - Eurasia and Africa, such as Italy, France, Spain, Turkey, Egypt, Tunisia, Algeria, etc.

b) Greece, Bulgaria, Macedonia, Serbia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Albania, etc.

c) Cuba, Haiti, Jamaica, Puerto Rico, Dominican Republic etc. d) Venezuela, Brazil, Mexico, Ecuador, Peru, Chile, Uruguay, etc.

2. What terms are used to characterize geographic space?

Region, District, Cultural-Historical Region

3. What does regional geography study?

"Regional Geography" considers the diversity modern world from a regional point of view, i.e. taking into account the individuality of its constituent parts.

4. What are cultural-historical regions? What signs characterize them? Give examples.

Cultural and historical regions are territories whose population, due to the common historical destinies, socio-economic development and mutual influence, have similar cultural and everyday features. Cultural-historical areas are manifested in material culture- types of traditional dwellings, vehicles, food and utensils, clothes, shoes, jewelry, etc., as well as in traditional spiritual culture (calendar rituals and customs, beliefs, folklore, etc.). Unlike ethnic groups with ethnic self-consciousness, cultural-historical regions may not be perceived by people and are distinguished in the course of special ethnographic studies. Examples of cultural and historical regions include Western Europe, the Middle East, the West Indies, Indochina, Tropical Africa.

5. What cultural and historical region can Russia be attributed to?

Russia can be attributed to the Post-Soviet cultural and historical region.

6. Give examples of countries belonging to two or more cultural and historical regions. What is the reason for this?

Egypt is a North African, Middle Eastern, Middle Eastern and Arab country. Mexico can be attributed both to the Caribbean region and to Latin America. This is due to the fact that most of the large cultural and historical regions have a complex multi-stage (“matryoshka”) structure. In turn, many states have their own cultural and historical centers.

7. The division of the globe into separate regions is possible according to different features. Write in a notebook the classifications of the division of the world into regions known to you. What classifications can you suggest? What sign do you base them on?

Classifications of the division of the world into regions are possible according to physical-geographical, cultural-historical, economic, political, ideological features. I would propose a division of the world along linguistic lines, in which each region would be characterized by the dominant language on its territory (or language family or group).

Applying for a secondary education and the corresponding erudition, we need to get acquainted with the names and locations of all modern countries. However, we do not have enough strength or time to study the geography of the world through the characteristics of each country. In addition, such a study is inefficient due to the constantly changing number of countries and their different, incomparable sizes. This is also not necessary, because we will not be able to visit all countries, and by the end of our life their number will change anyway.
But when studying socio-economic geography by continents, it is impossible to understand and comprehend (remember grades 7-8) the patterns and main features of the territorial organization of the world, because the size of the continents is too large. Given that nearby countries, especially small ones, are usually similar to each other, it is convenient to study the world by dividing it into groups of neighboring countries - regions. Remembering the “parameters” of two dozen regions is much easier than remembering several hundred countries. This knowledge can be successfully used throughout life, since only the number of countries and certain sections of borders change in the regions, but each region forever remains a separate geographical and ethno-cultural area of ​​the world with a pronounced individuality.
Region - a group of neighboring countries characterized by a common natural conditions, physical and economic-geographical position, living conditions and economic activity people, the history and culture of the peoples living in it, the proximity of the levels of socio-economic development and economic structures of the countries located in them.
The number of major regions of the world and their composition are defined differently by different scientists. Therefore, it is reasonable to use the most common regional division grid, which should be considered as adopted in the United Nations. Before the collapse of the USSR, the UN allocated and maintained international statistics for 21 regions.
The validity of such a division does not raise the slightest doubt. The disadvantage is only the union in one region of the western (Brazilian Guiana) and eastern (Andean) parts of the tropical climate zone of South America; this region should be divided into two.
Thus, it turns out 23 main regions. It is very convenient and easy to study the geography of the world, its territorial organization, patterns and features of development. The composition and boundaries of the regions must be firmly remembered - this is knowledge that you will have to use all your life.
1. Northern Europe- the territory separated from the mainland by the English Channel, the Northern and the Baltic Seas. Includes British Isles(Great Britain and Ireland), Scandinavia (Denmark with Greenland and the Faroe Islands, Norway with Svalbard, Sweden, Iceland), the Baltic States (Finland, Estonia, Latvia).
2. Western Europe includes Germany with France and small German states- Austria, Switzerland, the Netherlands, Belgium, Luxembourg, Liechtenstein.
3. Southern Europe- countries lying on northern shores mediterranean sea: Portugal, Spain, Malta, Italy, former Yugoslavia(Slovenia, Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Serbia with Montenegro, Macedonia), Albania, Greece and Cyprus.
4. Eastern Europe- Czech Republic, Slovakia, Poland, Lithuania, Belarus, Ukraine, Hungary, Moldova, Romania, Bulgaria.
5. Russia is a separate region, a whole subcontinent occupying the territory of Northern Eurasia.
6. Western or Western Asia includes Turkey, Transcaucasia (Georgia, Armenia, Azerbaijan), Levant (Syria, Lebanon, Israel, Palestine), Iraq and Arabia (Saudi Arabia, Yemen, Oman, UAE, Qatar, Kuwait, Bahrain).
7. central Asia- This modern Iran, Afghanistan, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, Kyrgyzstan, Kazakhstan, or historical Iran(Ariana) and Turan (Turkestan).
8. South Asia- the countries of Hindustan, or modern India, Pakistan, Nepal, Bhutan, Sri Lanka, Maldives.
9. South East Asia includes Indochina (Myanmar, Thailand, Cambodia, Laos, Vietnam) and island lands (Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore, Brunei, Philippines).
10. East Asia, or the Far East is Japan, North and South Korea, China, Mongolia, Taiwan, Macau.
11. North Africa - Arab countries located on the southern coast of the Mediterranean Sea and in the Nile River valley, separated from the rest of Africa by the Sahara Desert. These are Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia, Libya, Egypt and Sudan.
12. West Africa - countries located west of Lake Chad between the Sahara Desert and Atlantic Ocean: Cape Verde, Gambia, Senegal, Guinea-Bissau, Guinea, Sierra Leone, Liberia, Ivory Coast, Ghana, Togo, Benin, Nigeria, Niger, Burkina Faso, Mali, Mauritania.
13. Central Africa - countries in the center of the mainland from the Sahara desert in the north to the Kalahari desert in the south: Chad, Central African Republic, Cameroon, Equatorial Guinea, Sao Tome and Principe, Gabon, Congo, Zaire, Angola.
14. East Africa- countries occupying the Ethiopian and East African highlands: Eritrea, Ethiopia, Djibouti, Somalia, Kenya, Uganda, Rwanda, Burundi, Tanzania, Comoros and Seychelles.
15. South Africa- South Africa, Namibia, Botswana, Swaziland, Lesotho, Zimbabwe, Zambia, Malawi, Mozambique, Madagascar, Mascarene Islands (Mauritius and Reunion)
16. North America - Canada and the USA.
17. Central America- countries on the "isthmus" between North and South America: Mexico, Guatemala, Honduras, El Salvador, Costa Rica, Panama.
18. Caribbean America - islands in the Caribbean. Cuba, Haiti, Dominican Republic, Jamaica, Puerto Rico are located in the Greater Antilles. There are 18 small states and possessions in the archipelago of the Lesser Antilles (Trinidad and Tobago, Barbados, Martinique, Guadeloupe, Dominica, Grenada, etc.).
19. Andean America - five countries located in the North and Central Andes: Venezuela, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru and Bolivia.
20. Tropical South America is Brazil, Paraguay, French Guiana, Suriname and Guyana. The definition "tropical" means that the climate here is hot.
21. Temperate South America - Argentina, Chile, Uruguay, Falkland Islands. The definition of "temperate" means that the climate here is not tropical, and bananas do not grow.
22. Australia - includes settled by European colonists Australian Union(on the mainland and the island of Tasmania) and New Zealand (on the islands of the same name). We say: "Australia", we also mean New Zealand.
23. Oceania. Includes the Aboriginal settled islands of Melanesia ( Papua New Guinea, Solomon, Vanuatu, New Caledonia, Fiji), Polynesia (Tonga, Eastern Samoa, Western Samoa, Tuvalu, Kiribati, French Polynesia) and Micronesia (Guam, Northern Mariana Islands, Federated States of Micronesia, Marshall Islands, Nauru, Palau).
Each region has a country with largest number population. According to the weighted average rule, the relative quantitative indicators of such a country quite accurately characterize the region as a whole. We will call such countries key, because by studying them, you can get an idea of ​​the entire region. Knowledge of key countries is also important because their political and economic condition affects the entire region; cooperation with them is becoming a vital necessity not only for neighbors, but for the whole world. Key countries are most often mentioned in the text and assignments, and the characteristics of the regions are compiled from them.

Zoning of the continental fauna

ZOOGEOGRAPHICAL ZONING (zoogeographical zoning) - the division of the territory into separate regions (regions, provinces, districts, etc.), relatively homogeneous in terms of the conditions of existence, composition and structure of the animal world. It is carried out in scientific and practical purposes, allows to carry out differentiated approach to carry out the necessary measures for the protection of animals.

The modern dry land of the globe breaks up into a number of isolated massifs, the fauna of which developed independently of each other over a long geological time. It should be borne in mind that there were direct continental connections of different age between the continents, therefore, representatives of close taxa of the animal kingdoms can be found on different continents (for example, in Africa, Australia and South America or Madagascar and South East Asia and etc.). There also existed and still exist mediated (indirect) links between all the continents. Commonality and differences in the composition of faunas different parts of the globe leads to the need for zoogeographic zoning, to the allocation of zoogeographic regions and even to their division into sub-regions.

The main method of identifying zoogeographic regions is by the relative antiquity of faunas (the fauna of Africa south of the Sahara is Eocene in nature, South Asia is Miocene, etc.).

In addition to antiquity, we take into account historical connections and taxonomic similarity between faunas, a statistically rigorous accounting of the systematic proximity and remoteness of the fauna is provided, the number of species in different groups of animals is compared. At the same time, the number of common and non-common orders, families, genera is taken into account. The smaller the zoogeographic divisions (subregions, provinces, etc.), the more value modern environmental factors.

The fauna of a separate small area can be characterized as complete list its constituent species, and the dominant, dominant species. For economic purposes, the latter is more important. Therefore, in addition to the qualitative characteristics of the fauna of the area (list of species), Special attention given quantitative characteristic(multitude certain types). More numerous species are usually and economically significant: commercial species, pests Agriculture, carriers of diseases, etc.

The identification of the boundaries of zoogeographic regions is to a certain extent conditional. It should only be borne in mind that zoogeographical boundaries can be drawn strictly linear only in cases where they have remained constant for a long geological time and now separate two sharply different landscapes. Good example the Himalayas represent one of the sharpest boundaries separating the fauna of one continent. This is explained both by the relative antiquity of this border, and abrupt change here landscape. In territories where there are no such boundaries, one fauna gradually passes into another. If the boundaries between regions are not clear, wide transitional bands can be distinguished.

Modern faunal zoning is diverse (Geptner, 1936; Puzanov, 1938; Bobrinsky, 1951; Bobrinsky and Gladkov, 1961; Vtorov and Drozdov, 1979, 2001; Lopatin, 1986, etc.).

Zoological division of the Earth (according to Prof. Geptner V.G.)

Areas	Subdomains
I. Holarctic	1. Arctic
	2. Canadian
	3. Sonoran (USA)
	4. European-Siberian (RB)
	5. Mediterranean
	6. Central Asian
	7. Manjuro-Chinese
P. neotropical	1. Brazilian
	2. Patagonian
	3. Central American
	4. Antillean
III. Ethiopian	1. West African
	2. East African
	3. South African
	4. Madagascar
I.Y. Indomalayan	1. Indian
	2. Indo-Chinese
	3. Malay
Y. Australian	1. Australian
	2. New Guinea
	3. New Zealand
	4. Polynesian
	5. Hawaiian

Faunal zoning of land

The specificity of the composition of the fauna of various geographical regions and continents has been obvious to naturalists since ancient times. However, it took centuries of accumulation of knowledge about the fauna of the world, the era geographical discoveries, hundreds scientific expeditions to the most remote corners of the globe in order to have an idea and a real opportunity to implement faunal zoning on a global scale.

The first such attempt was made by the English ornithologist F. Skleter in 1858. He singled out six zoogeographic regions. Subsequently, the Scleterian regions were united into higher categories - kingdoms, and in each of the regions sub-regions, districts, provinces, and sections were identified.

In the middle of the XX century. a great contribution to the improvement and substantiation of the zoning system was made by V.G. Geptner, I.I. Puzanov, N.A. Bobrinsky, F. Darlington. All these scientists relied mainly on materials on the fauna of terrestrial vertebrates. In the second half of the XX century. zoogeographers began to increasingly draw on data on invertebrates, primarily on molluscs and insects, mainly on beetles (beetles). Information about the history of the settlement of these undoubtedly more ancient groups of animals made it possible to analyze even more deeply the volume, rank and boundaries of the already accepted kingdoms, regions and subregions. O.L. Kryzhanovsky (1976) and I.K. Lopatin (1989).

With a wider coverage of different groups of fauna, there is a convergence of the categories of faunal zoning with those of floristic zoning (Takhtadzhyan, 1970). This trend led to the idea that a complex - flora-faunistic, or biotic, zoning is also possible. The first scheme of biotic zoning of land was proposed by P.P. Vtorov and N.N. Drozdov (1978). Thus, despite the differences in the history of the emergence and spread across the globe between different groups of animals and between animals and plants themselves, there are common patterns that determine the main foci and migration routes, barriers, refugia and other geographic features for both flora and fauna, i.e. for the biota as a whole.

Drozdov N.N. offers an original faunal zoning scheme based on an analysis of the history of the formation of the fauna of all sufficiently studied groups of terrestrial animals, both vertebrates and invertebrates. However, terrestrial vertebrates (animals, birds, reptiles, amphibians) are much better known to students at the level of families and many characteristic species than species, families, and even orders in the classes of insects, gastropods, or arachnids. Therefore, the presentation of the proposed zoning scheme is carried out using terrestrial vertebrates as the most familiar and recognizable objects.

The identification of categories of faunal zoning of various kinds is carried out mainly according to the level and depth of endemism, i.e., according to the number of endemic groups and their rank. So, kingdoms are determined by the presence (or absence) of endemic orders, regions - by the nature of the distribution of endemic families, subregions - by the distribution of endemic genera, sometimes families.

Kingdoms are higher categories faunal zoning. Currently most scientists distinguish four kingdoms. This is Notogaea, Neogaea, Paleogea and Arctogea. They are determined mainly by the degree of antiquity of the mammalian fauna.

The kingdom of Notogea includes two regions - Australian and Antarctic. Notogea is distinguished by its antiquity and a significant depletion of the fauna. Antiquity is due to the existence of a southern parameter that united Australia, Antarctica and the south of South America, and the poverty of the modern fauna of Notogea is due to geographical isolation and the processes of glaciation and aridization in different regions kingdoms. Characteristics fauna - the presence of monotremes (endemic to this kingdom), the dominance of marsupials and the almost complete absence of placental, with the exception of rodents, bats and thin-legged.

AT the kingdom of Neogaea includes only one area - Neotropical. This kingdom is characterized by the absence of monotremes, the presence of two families of marsupials, a detachment of edentulous (families of armadillos, anteaters and sloths) and almost total absence insectivorous mammals,

The kingdom of Paleogea includes two regions - Ethiopian and Indo-Malayska. In this kingdom, orders of lizards (pangolins), lady aardvarks, proboscis (elephants), a suborder of semi-monkeys (lemurs, L tarsiers) are endemic.

The kingdom of Arctogay includes only one region - the Holarctic, but occupies a vast space: the entire northern extratropical part of the globe. Here, marsupial mammals are almost completely absent; various orders of placental mammals dominate, but among them there is not a single endemic one. This is explained by the comparative history and youth of the faunal complexes that have developed in this area. Endemism is manifested at the level of orders (or suborders) of birds - loons and auks. Mammals are represented by endemic families of desmans, beavers, jerboas, vines, pikas, aplodonts, and pronghorns, and three of them are monotypic, that is, they contain only one species each (selevinia, or hawk dormouse, aplodontia, and pronghorn antelope). From reptiles, the family of lizards of gila-tooths is endemic, from tailed amphibians - families of salamanders, giant cryptogills, ambistomes, salamanders, proteus and new ones (not to be confused with the order of sirens in the class of mammals).

Let us move on to a more detailed description of the faunal regions and subregions of the globe.