The Invisible Barrier Keeping Two Worlds Apart
17,934,212
Published 2023-05-02
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References: docs.google.com/document/d/1izJJk7Gkn7itpRb1dFwp7j…
All Comments (21)
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Imagine not knowing anything about plate tectonics and realizing that some birds being missing on a random island implied the existence of continents that went underwater millions of years ago. Incredible.
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Imagine trying to describe to describe to someone from 500 years ago that the movement of rocks creates an invisible line that decides what type of food is available
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I remember my high school geography teacher (in around 1966) doing a little rant about how "the continents do not move!". We had no idea what he was talking about because the plate tectonic theory hadn’t trickled out to the general population yet. He never explained but that strange rant stuck with me and only cleared up when I learned about ‘continental drift’ 5 or so years later.
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The Wallace Line also influenced the people living in Australia too. Aboriginal Australians and Torres Straight Islanders have lived here for 65-120 thousand years and they were isolated for most of that time and so that’s a big part of why the animal and plant biodiversity is so unique, why the people’s genetics are relatively unique and with big cultural differences too. It’s something I’m only just learning about, but I think it’s really interesting
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The statement "I'm as old as plate tectonics," really drives home how quickly our understanding of science had grown, and just how recently too.
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I’m a Dutch biology teacher on holiday in Bali. Currently staying at the coastal village Amed, on the far east side of the island. Looking across the exact Wallace line described in this video, at the island of Lombok. All while watching this video while the sun rises on the horizon, quite close to my sight of Lombok. This was a delightful video with perfect timing.
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Did you know the Wallace Line is also important culturally and historically? It marks the boundary between two regions that have had different influences over time, which has led to a diverse mix of languages and cultures in Indonesia. Along our trip with Pinisi boats, we learn about Indonesia's history and culture, including the significance of the Wallace Line in shaping the country's diversity.
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As a person who currently live in Sulawesi island, this explains why i found a lot of shell and mollusks fossil on the mountain regions, it even scattered everywhere everytime we dig gravels for construction.
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Wallace is well known in Indonesia, actually more famous than Darwin. We learn from child that he found the theory of natural selection almost at the same time as Darwin, but decided to let Darwin took the honor. Wallace was depicted as a humble man who prefer focusing on his research instead of fame or prestige. He spent the majority of his life going from one island to another island to pursue his study and interest. Truly a researcher at its core.
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My geology prof was doing her thesis defense in the late 60's. One people on the panel asked her a question about tectonics but one of the other members took issue with that. So two members of the panel that was convened to determine if my future professor should get her doctorate in geology... started arguing with each other, and my prof just stood their quietly, letting them run out the clock.
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Wallace is the most studied westerner in Indonesian school
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I remember the controversy when plate tectonics was first suggested. Some people insisted that the idea of the continents moving was absurd, they're literally solid rock. A guy named Thor Heyerdahl sailed a primitive raft called "Kontiki" from Africa to South America to establish an explanation for people getting to the new world thousands of years ago. Then someone mentioned "Continental drift", and it was literally a whole new world. I was ten.
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I was sitting in 9th grade science in 1960, looking at the world map and noticing how the coasts of Africa and South America seem to fit together. I pointed that out during discussion and wondered aloud if they'd ever been joined. The teacher ridiculed my remarks, declaring it an outlandish idea. Now, whenever plate tectonics is discussed, I think to myself: "Take that Mr. Lee."
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Mr Wallace doesn't get the credit he deserves. He's a giant.
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I think its so cool that you might find ancient artic species or pangea species that have now evolved to monitor lizards, cockatoos, kangaroos, etc, in Australia, New Guinea and West Indonesia.
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For my masters thesis (biology) i am working on tarsiers (small primates) on Sulawesi Indonesia, and my research is connected strongly to biogeography. Nice video, thanks :)
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While everyone is saying Wallace needs credit, we all know Gromit did all the work. Wallace just complained about his trousers while Gromit lay the railroad tracks.
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In Indonesia, we were taught about one other line: Weber's line. It's basically a line east of Wallace's line (between Sulawesi and Moluccas iirc) which separates the Australia + Papua plate with the transitionary islands. So unlike Wallace's only 2 zones (Asia/Sunda - Australia/Sahul) it's now three zones (Asia - Transitionary - Australia)
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Making Philippines so diverse yet so confined since wallace’s border excludes the region and hexley’s border (modification of wallace’s study)excludes it as well. 🤯
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While this is part of our Geography lessons back in school since elementary school, I hope we can emphasize more like this video did on how unique the Wallace line is. We also know the Weber line but never understand the impact of species distribution. Thank you for telling us this story.
