Abstract
“The geography of diversification” returns to a central theme of biogeography—that place matters, and that each region, down to an island or lake, can be an evolutionary arena, producing its own distinct plant and animal life. Case studies from the Hawaiian Islands, Madagascar, and the Rift Valley Lakes of East Africa illustrate the phenomenon of adaptive radiation, the process by which organisms diversify from an ancestral species into a multitude of new forms. This diversification is driven by the combined effects of biogeographic processes, geographic dimensions such as area and isolation, and ecological interactions among the species. Why are the adaptive radiations of some lineages so much greater than others?