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Wallace Line
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==Biogeography== [[File:Wallacea.png|thumb|upright=1.4|The [[Wallacea]] region situated between Wallace's Line (after [[Ernst Mayr]] or [[Thomas Henry Huxley]]) and the [[Lydekker Line]] ]] Understanding of the [[biogeography]] of the region centers on the relationship of ancient [[sea level]]s to the [[continental shelves]]. Wallace's Line is visible geographically when the continental shelf contours are examined. It figures as a deep-water channel that separates the southeastern edge of the [[Sunda Shelf]] from the [[Sahul Shelf]]. The Sunda Shelf links Borneo, Bali, Java, and Sumatra underwater to the mainland of southeastern Asia, while the Sahul Shelf connects Australia to New Guinea and their adjacent islands.<ref name="Newton-1874">{{cite book |last=Newton |first=Alfred |date=1874 |title=Zoology |place=London, UK |publisher=Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge }}<br/>{{cite journal |title=''Zoology'' by Alfred Newton, M.A., F.R.S. ... 1874 |department=Bibliographical notice |type=book review |date=April 1875 |journal=Annals and Magazine of Natural History |series=4 |volume=15 |issue=88 |page=285 |issn=0374-5481 |doi=10.1080/00222937508681077 }}</ref> During the Pleistocene, when the [[:File:Sea level temp 140ky.gif|ocean levels were up to 120 metres (390 ft) lower]], islands became connected, but never uniting Asia with Australia. Consequently, for over 50 million years, deep water between those two large continental shelf areas created a barrier that kept the flora and fauna of Australia separated from those of Asia. It can reasonably be concluded it was an ocean barrier preventing species migration because the physical aspects of the separated islands are very similar.<ref name="Newton-1874" /> Thus, the ''[[Wallacea]]'' region consists of islands that remained isolated on their respective continental land masses, with only those organisms capable of crossing the straits between islands populating them.<ref name="Mayr-1944">{{cite journal |last=Mayr |first=Ernst |author-link=Ernst Mayr |date=March 1944 |title=Wallace's Line in the Light of Recent Zoogeographic Studies |journal=[[The Quarterly Review of Biology]] |volume=19 |issue=1 |pages=1β14 |doi=10.1086/394684 |s2cid=33245177 |issn=0033-5770 |url=https://www.journals.uchicago.edu/doi/10.1086/394684}}</ref> Alternatively, "[[Max Carl Wilhelm Weber|Weber's line]]" runs through this transitional area (to the east of center), at the tipping point between Asian species against those with Australian origins.<ref name="Mayr-1944" />
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