Oceanic dispersal

High school (ages 12+)
Environment & Earth

Name:

Date:

Step 1 · Read the article

Open the article and read it at the level above. Then answer the questions below in your own words.

https://smallwhale.org/articles/oceanic-dispersal

Write what each word means, using the article.

Do not copy the article. Write two things you learned, the way you would explain them to a friend.

Answers below are taken from the article’s stored facts, so they match what the student read.

1. What is the primary vector?Ocean currents facilitating passive transport of buoyant propagules and organisms
2. What is the biogeographical impact?Crucial for island colonization, shaping island biogeography, and contributing to vicariance events

Propagule: A unit of asexual reproduction or dispersal, such as a spore or seed.
Vicariance: The geographical separation of a population, leading to the formation of new species.
Adaptive Radiation: The diversification of a group of organisms into forms filling different ecological niches.
Anthropocene: The current geological epoch, viewed as the period during which human activity has been the dominant influence on climate and the environment.