Continental Drift
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<speciesfyi-glossary slug="continental-drift"></speciesfyi-glossary>Definition
The gradual movement of continents across Earth's surface over geological time, influencing species distribution and evolution.
Detailed Explanation
Alfred Wegener proposed continental drift in 1912 but lacked a mechanism until plate tectonics was confirmed in the 1960s. The breakup of Gondwana explains why Australia, South America, and Antarctica share ratite birds (ostriches, rheas, emus) — they were all connected. Vicariance biogeography uses the match between phylogenies and the sequence of continental separations to reconstruct the historical origins of modern distributions.