Phylogeography of California

Phylogeography of California examines the evolution of ancient, recent, native, and migratory taxa to elucidate the major and minor evolutionary events that shaped the distribution, radiation, and speciation of the biota of California. This work examines and interprets the evolutionary history of the biota in California in a geological context, and it also examines any subsequent patterns in regional diversity that have emerged across combined phylogenies. Indeed, a number of phylogeographic patterns have emerged: some previously identified are expanded, and some new patterns are recognized. A survey of the phylogeography of the flora and fauna of California’s diverse biota is provided by major organismal groups and provides a context in which to ask further questions about evolutionary diversification in an area oddly defined by both physical and political boundaries. Life history characteristics such as dispersal ability at each life stage; generation time; reproductive ability; and ecological characteristics such as degree of habitat specialization, competition, predation, mode of propagule dispersal, and availability of habitat or migration corridors all play an important role in the various outcomes for respective clades. The challenge of phylogeographic studies is to assess changes in population structure of once largely distributed populations or expansion from ancestral propagules into present-day population structures shaped by geological and geographical processes. Ultimately, summarizing the phylogeography of California provides a context for landscape-level conservation efforts throughout the biogeographic provinces that roughly define the state of California.