Женеалогиялық таралғандық және географиялық тарих зерттеуі

Field of study
Phylogeography is the study of the historical processes that may be responsible for the past to present geographic distributions of genealogical lineages. This is accomplished by considering the geographic distribution of individuals in light of genetics, particularly population genetics. This term was introduced to describe geographically structured genetic signals within and among species. An explicit focus on a species' biogeography/biogeographical past sets phylogeography apart from classical population genetics and phylogenetics. Past events that can be inferred include population expansion, population bottlenecks, vicariance, dispersal, and migration. Recently developed approaches integrating coalescent theory or the genealogical history of alleles and distributional information can more accurately address the relative roles of these different historical forces in shaping current patterns.

Phylogeography can help in the prioritization of areas of high value for conservation. Phylogeographic analyses have also played an important role in defining evolutionary significant units (ESU), a unit of conservation below the species level that is often defined on unique geographic distribution and mitochondrial genetic patterns. A recent study on imperiled cave crayfish in the Appalachian Mountains of eastern North America demonstrates how phylogenetic analyses along with geographic distribution can aid in recognizing conservation priorities. Using phylogeographical approaches, the authors found that hidden within what was thought to be a single, widely distributed species, an ancient and previously undetected species was also present. Conservation decisions can now be made to ensure that both lineages received protection. Results like this are not an uncommon outcome from phylogeographic studies. An analysis of salamanders of the genus Eurycea, also in the Appalachians, found that the current taxonomy of the group greatly underestimated species level diversity. The authors of this study also found that patterns of phylogeographic diversity were more associated with historical (rather than modern) drainage connections, indicating that major shifts in the drainage patterns of the region played an important role in the generation of diversity of these salamanders. A thorough understanding of phylogeographic structure will thus allow informed choices in prioritizing areas for conservation.

The field of comparative phylogeography seeks to explain the mechanisms responsible for the phylogenetic relationships and distribution of different species. For example, comparisons across multiple taxa can clarify the histories of biogeographical regions. For example, phylogeographic analyses of terrestrial vertebrates on the Baja California peninsula and marine fish on both the Pacific and gulf sides of the peninsula proposed a null hypothesis that assumes no spatial structure and two alternative hypothesis involving dispersal and other biogeographic constraints (hypothesis are shown in panels E G, listed as SMO, SM1, and SM2). The phylogeographers visited the ranges of each frog species to obtain tissue samples for genetic analysis; researchers can also obtain tissue samples from museum collections. The evolutionary history and relations among different poison frog species is reconstructed using phylogenetic trees derived from molecular data. The molecular trees are mapped in relation to paleogeographic history of the region for a complete phylogeographic study. The tree shown in the center of the figure has its branch lengths calibrated to a molecular clock, with the geological time bar shown at the bottom. The same phylogenetic tree is duplicated four more times to show where each lineage is distributed and is found (illustrated in the inset maps below, including Amazon basin, Andes, Guiana Venezuela, Central America Chocó). While this study had its shortcomings, it received significant attention both within scientific circles and a wider audience. A more thorough phylogeographic analysis that used ten different genes instead of a single mitochondrial marker indicates that at least two major expansions out of Africa after the initial range extension of Homo erectus played an important role shaping the modern human gene pool and that recurrent genetic exchange is pervasive. These findings strongly demonstrated Africa's central role in the evolution of modern humans, but also indicated that the multiregional model had some validity. These studies have largely been supplanted by population genomic studies that use orders of magnitude more data. In light of these recent data from the 1000 genomes project, genomic scale SNP databases sampling thousands of individuals globally and samples taken from two non Homo sapiens hominins (Neanderthals and Denisovans), the picture of human evolutionary has become more resolved and complex involving possible Neanderthal and Denisovan admixture, admixture with archaic African hominins, and Eurasian expansion into the Australasian region that predates the standard out of African expansion.

Viruses are informative in understanding the dynamics of evolutionary change due to their rapid mutation rate and fast generation time. Phylogeography is a useful tool in understanding the origins and distributions of different viral strains. A phylogeographic approach has been taken for many diseases that threaten human health, including dengue fever, rabies, influenza and HIV. Language evolution was modeled in terms of the gain and loss of cognate words in each language over time, to produce a cladogram of related languages. Combining those data with known geographic ranges of each language produced strong support for an Anatolian origin approximately 8000–9500 years ago.