Biogeography is the study of the distribution of species and ecosystems in geographic space and through geological time. Organisms and biological communities vary in a regular fashion along geographic gradients of latitude, elevation and habitat area. Phytogeography is the branch of biogeography. Zoogeography is the branch. Knowledge of spatial variation in the numbers and types of organisms is as vital to us today as it was to our early human ancestors, as we adapt to heterogeneous but geographically predictable environments. Biogeography is an integrative field of inquiry that unites concepts and information from ecology, evolutionary biology and physical geography. Modern biogeographic research combines information and ideas from many fields, from the physiological and ecological constraints on organismal dispersal to geological and climatological phenomena operating at global spatial scales and evolutionary time frames; the short-term interactions within a habitat and species of organisms describe the ecological application of biogeography.

Historical biogeography describes the long-term, evolutionary periods of time for broader classifications of organisms. Early scientists, beginning with Carl Linnaeus, contributed to the development of biogeography as a science. Beginning in the mid-18th century, Europeans explored the world and discovered the biodiversity of life; the scientific theory of biogeography grows out of the work of Alexander von Humboldt, Hewett Cottrell Watson, Alphonse de Candolle, Alfred Russel Wallace, Philip Lutley Sclater and other biologists and explorers. The patterns of species distribution across geographical areas can be explained through a combination of historical factors such as: speciation, continental drift, glaciation. Through observing the geographic distribution of species, we can see associated variations in sea level, river routes and river capture. Additionally, this science considers the geographic constraints of landmass areas and isolation, as well as the available ecosystem energy supplies.

Over periods of ecological changes, biogeography includes the study of plant and animal species in: their past and/or present living refugium habitat. As writer David Quammen put it, "...biogeography does more than ask Which species? and Where. It asks Why? and, what is sometimes more crucial, Why not?."Modern biogeography employs the use of Geographic Information Systems, to understand the factors affecting organism distribution, to predict future trends in organism distribution. Mathematical models and GIS are employed to solve ecological problems that have a spatial aspect to them. Biogeography is most keenly observed on the world's islands; these habitats are much more manageable areas of study because they are more condensed than larger ecosystems on the mainland. Islands are ideal locations because they allow scientists to look at habitats that new invasive species have only colonized and can observe how they disperse throughout the island and change it, they can apply their understanding to similar but more complex mainland habitats.

Islands are diverse in their biomes, ranging from the tropical to arctic climates. This diversity in habitat allows for a wide range of species study in different parts of the world. One scientist who recognized the importance of these geographic locations was Charles Darwin, who remarked in his journal "The Zoology of Archipelagoes will be well worth examination". Two chapters in On the Origin of Species were devoted to geographical distribution; the first discoveries that contributed to the development of biogeography as a science began in the mid-18th century, as Europeans explored the world and described the biodiversity of life. During the 18th century most views on the world were shaped around religion and for many natural theologists, the bible. Carl Linnaeus, in the mid-18th century, initiated the ways to classify organisms through his exploration of undiscovered territories; when he noticed that species were not as perpetual as he believed, he developed the Mountain Explanation to explain the distribution of biodiversity.

This showed different species in different climates proving. Linnaeus' findings set a basis for ecological biogeography. Through his strong beliefs in Christianity, he was inspired to classify the living world, which gave way to additional accounts of secular views on geographical distribution, he argued that the structure of an animal was closely related to its physical surroundings. This was important to a George Louis Buffon's rival theory of distribution. After Linnaeus, Georges-Louis Leclerc, Comte de Buffon observed shifts in climate and how species spread across the globe as a result, he was the first to see different groups of organisms in different regions of the world. Buffon saw similarities between some regions which led him to believe that at one point continents were connected and water separated them and caused differences in species, his hypotheses were described by his books, Histoire Naturelle, Générale et Particulière, in which he argued that varying geographical regions would have different forms of life.

This was inspired by his observations comparing the Old and New World, as he determined distinct variations of species from the two regions. Buffon believed there was a single species creation event, that different regions of the world were homes for varying species, an a

Langtang North is a Local Government Area in Plateau State, Nigeria. Its headquarters are in the town of Langtang. At9°08′00″N 9°47′00″E, it has a population of 140,643 at the 2006 census. The postal code of the area is 941. In July 2014, "at least 11 persons have been feared killed at Zamadede of Pil-Gani district of Langtang North Local Government Area of Plateau State." House of Representatives member Hon. Beni Lar, who represents Langtang North and South constituency, "described the Zama Dede community as peace loving and hard working farmers," who produce large crops. "She wondered why some people would be so cruel to take the lives of innocent citizens at the time the federal government, through the national conference, was trying to find a lasting solution to clashes between farmers and herdsmen," and "appealed to the people of her constituents to remain law abiding."

The "born alive" rule is a common law legal principle that holds that various criminal laws, such as homicide and assault, apply only to a child, "born alive". U. S. courts have overturned this rule, citing recent advances in medicine. Abortion in Canada is still governed by the born alive rule, as courts continue to hold to its foundational principles. In 1996, the Law Lords confirmed that the rule applied in English law but that alternative charges existed in lieu, such as a charge of unlawful or negligent manslaughter instead of murder; the born alive rule was a principle at common law in England, carried to the United States and other former colonies of the British Empire. First formulated by William Staunford, it was set down by Edward Coke in his Institutes of the Laws of England, it follows the language used for cases of murder in English law, identifying three salient characteristics. 1. A reasonable creature, 2. in rerum natura. Coke says: "If a woman be quick with childe, by a potion or otherwise killeth it in her wombe, or if a man beat her, whereby the child dyeth in her body, she is delivered of a dead childe, this is great misprision, no murder.

The term "reasonable creature" echoes the language of an influential strand Catholic doctrine on the nature of the soul and the Beginning of human personhood which adopted Aristotle in holding that it is the "rational soul" that infuses the fetus with "human beingness". There was disagreement as to whether this occurred at the moment of conception, or at the moment of quickening, as Aristotle had held; as for rerum natura, William Staunford had explained "the thing killed must be in part of the world of physical beings. This has been interpreted as meaning expelled from the womb; the "thing killed" must be in the King's peace, i.e. in a situation where the protection of the King's peace applied. An outlaw, for instance, was not in the King's peace, not subject to protection of the law; the designation "misprision, no murder", can be traced to the Leges Henrici Primi of 1115, which designated abortion "quasi homicide". Here, we find the penalties for abortion were varying lengths of penance, indicating it was dealt with by ecclesiastical courts, while homicide, being a breach of the King's peace, was dealt with in secular courts.

Penalties for abortion varied depending on whether the fetus was formed or unformed, before or after quickening, were only imposed on women who had aborted the product of "fornication", a distinction made by the Venerable Bede. The personhood status of the fetus once born is a matter of speculation, as children had little recognition at law prior to the Offences against the Person Act 1828, today are still not considered full persons until they reach the age of majority and are deemed capable of entering into binding contracts; as the Eliza Armstrong case shows, however, it was still legal for a father to sell his child as late as 1885, long after the slave trade had been abolished in England. In the nineteenth century, some began to argue for legal recognition of the moment of conception as the beginning of a human being, basing their argument on growing awareness of the processes of pregnancy and fetal development, they succeeded in drafting laws which criminalized abortion in all forms and made it punishable in secular courts.

Advances in the state of the art in medical science, including medical knowledge related to the viability of the fetus, the ease with which the fetus can be observed in the womb as a living being, treated clinically as a human being, demonstrate neural and other processes considered as human, have led a number of jurisdictions – in particular in the United States – to supplant or abolish this common law principle. Examples of the evidence cited can be found within studies in ultrasonography, fetal heart monitoring and behavioral neuroscience. Studies in Neonatal perception suggest that the physiology required for consciousness does not exist prior to the 28th week, as this is when the thalamic afferents begin to enter the cerebral cortex. How long it takes for the requisite connection to be properly established is unknown at this time. Additionally, it is unclear whether the presence of certain hormones may keep the fetal brain sedated until birth; the rule forms the foundation of UK law related to the fetus.

In the case Attorney General's Reference No. 3 of 1994 Lord Mustill noted that the legal position of the unborn, other pertinent rules related to transferred malice, were strongly embedded in the structure of the law and had been considered recently by the courts. The Law Lords concurred that a fetus, although protected by the law in a number of ways, is not a separate person from its mother in English law, they described this as outdated and misconceived but established as a principle, adding that the fetus might be or not be a person for legal purposes, but could not in modern times be described as a part of its mother. The concept of transferred malice and general malice were not without difficulties. For example, the concept of transferred malice was applied where an assault caused a ch