Tiffany Bean

Biology 862

Vicariance, Dispersal, and the Importance of Area Cladograms in Testing Biogeographical Hypotheses

Annotated Bibliography

Armstrong, D. M. (1977). “Dispersal vs. Dispersion: Process vs. Pattern.” Systematic Zoology 26: 210-211.Agrees with Platnick’s "Concepts of Dispersal" in that "dispersal" and "dispersion" should remain separate but clears up the misuse of dispersion in biogeography, suggesting that since it is a concept of population ecology it should be left alone. "Dispersal is a process; dispersion is a state/pattern."

Ball, I. R. (1975). “Nature and Formulation of Biogeographical Hypotheses.” Systematic Zoology 24: 407-430. A classic paper outlining suggested requirements for the formulation of biogeographical hypotheses. Starting with a phylogenetic systematic background, hypotheses must have "explanatory power, internal consistency, predictive power, and potential for falsification" in order to really understand the history of today’s distribution patterns.

Bowen, B. W. a. G., W.S. (1997). “Phylogeography of the Sardines (Sardinops SPP.): Assessing Biogeographic Models and Population Histories in Temperate Upwelling Zones.” Evolution 51(5): 1601-1610. This paper has an informative intro, briefing the current and historical stands on vicariance and dispersal. Overall, the study is an example that dispersal models can be tested after all using both phylogeographic data and molecular clocks.

Bremer, K. (1992). “Ancestral Areas: A Cladistic Reinterpretation of the Center of Origin Concept.” Systematic Biology 41(4): 436-445. Based on dispersal biogeography and the centers of origin concept, the author describes a cladistic procedure for approximating ancestral areas of individual groups from area cladogram topology. He applies his method to a cosmopolitan angiosperm family showing that it is possible which areas are most likely parts of the ancestral area (South America and the Pacific in terms of his taxa).

Guyer, C. (1992). “A Review of Estimates of Nonreciprocity in Immunological Studies.” Systematic Biology 41(1): 85-88. This is the paper referenced by Hedges et. al 94 in their defense of reciprocity. Guyer reviews tests available to estimate non-reciprocity in albumin distances. Found the most precise estimate to be one that makes repeated measurements for the same two taxa; the others are used extensively and he believes them to be inaccurate.

Hass, C. A. (1991). “Evolution and biogeography of West Indian Sphaerodactylus : a molecular approach.” J. Zool. Lond. 225: 525-561. This paper revises the classification of a West Indian gecko genus based on the relationships obtained using albumin distance. Using an albumin clock, the author suggests that the fragmentation of the Pro-Antilles did not play a role in the group’s evolution and that, rather, allopatric speciation was the main mechanism of species formation.

Hedges, S. B., Bezy, Robert L. and Maxson, Linda R. (1991). “Phylogenetic Relationships and Biogeography of Xantusiid Lizards, Inferred from Mitochondrial DNA Sequences.” Mol. Biol. Evol. 8(6): 767-780. The authors develop relationships between 3 disjunct species of Xantusiid lizards using mtDNA. The results offer different explanations of xantusiid phylogeny and biogeography than previous analyses of morphology.

Hedges, S. B., Hass, Carla Ann, Maxson, Linda R. (1992). “Caribbean biogeography: Molecular evidence for dispersal in West Indian terrestrial vertebrates.” Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 89: 1909-1913. Conclude overwater dispersal as the main mechanism for the origin of West Indian biota in the Caribbean by comparing immunological distances between "mainland" and "west indian" species. Interesting article integrating geological phenomena with genetic evidence to estimate the Caribbean’s evolutionary history (or at least a piece of).

Hedges, S. B., Hass, Carla Ann, Maxson, Linda R. (1994). “Reply: Towards a Biogeography of the Caribbean.” Cladistics 10: 43-55. Reply to Page and Lydeard regarding their own study from 92. They believe they do not need cladistics in their biogeographic analysis because it was not their goal of the study. This paper states that their goal was to investigate the origin of the west indian biota based on times of divergence and believe that area cladograms neglect those divergence times.

Hedges, S. B. (1996). “Vicariance and Dispersal in Caribbean Biogeography.” Herpetologica 52(3): 466-473. Another defense of the 1992 study of Caribbean Biogeography, only this time Hedges is up against Crother and Guyer (as if Page and Lydeard weren’t enough). Hedges even directs the reader to the 94 reply to Page and Lydeard because Crother and Guyer’s criticisms are "so similar." About the tsunami wave lengths calculated by Crother and Guyer: Hedges says that the origin of West Indian vertebrates does not rely on the K-T bolide impact nor it’s waves.

McDowall, R. M. (1978). “Generalized Tracks and Dispersal in Biogeography.” Systematic Zoology 27(1): 88-104. The author points out that the placement of phylogenetic relationships in biogeography has not been totally agreed upon. He uses Rosen and Ball’s opposite beliefs of generalized tracks being used to predict phylogenetic relationship (Rosen) vs. phylogenetic relationships being used to generalized tracks (Ball). Overall, the author believes the resolution of these opposing sides to lie in the "continuum" between the two. A very opinionated paper, despite his neutral cop out.

Page, R. D. M. (1988). “Quantitative Cladistic Biogeography: Constructing and Comparing Area Cladograms.” Systematic Zoology 37(3): 254-270. In this paper, Page explains the use of quantitative measurements with area cladograms. He presents algorithms for interpreting widespread taxa and redundant distributions. He also proposes a statistical test of cladogram congruence. Page has a computer program implementing methods described in the paper, which uses the data of Rosen (1978, 1979) and Cracraft (1986) for illustrating the examples.

Page, R. D. M. (1990). “Temporal Congruence and Cladistic Analysis of Biogeography and Cospeciation.” Systematic Zoology 39(3): 205-226. Page reanalyzes Hafner and Nadler’s (1988) cospeciation study of gophers and their lice to show that the addition of times of cladogenetic events can increase the power of an analysis allowing for estimates of the roles of cospeciation, dispersal, and extinction. A complex yet well-organized and informative study.

Page, R. D. M. (1993). “Genes, Organisms, and Areas: the Problem of Multiple Lineages.” Systematic Biology 42(1): 77-84. Page outlines similarities in the problems faced by both molecular systematists and biogeographers, especially the problem of multiple lineages. He suggests that multiple species lineages can cause problems in biogeographic and cospeciation studies similar to the problem gene paralogy can cause in molecular systematics.

Page, R. D. M. a. L., Charles (1994). “Towards a Cladistic Biogeography of the Caribbean.” Cladistics 10: 21-41. A thorough, drawn out critique on why Hedges et.al’s conclusion of overwater dispersal was "not legitimate" nor "rigorous enough" AND had "too much storytelling" (ouch). Their main point is that Hedges et.al do not include area cladograms and hence leave no confidence in their results. After reading a following rebuttal by Hedges et.al 94, the Page and Lydeard’s critiques are not so "legitimate."

Platnick, N. I. (1976). “Concepts of Dispersal in Historical Biogeography.” Systematic Zoology 25: 294-295. A briefing of the role of dispersal in biogeography. States that a taxon’s range is the result of vicariance, dispersion, and dispersal with the first two primary and the latter secondary. I don’t buy dispersion being separate from dispersal in their use of the term but this is a fairly old paper and they seem to have had reason to believe dispersion was a separate phenomena in zoogeography (see Armstrong citing).

Rosen, D. E. (1976). “A Vicariance Model of Caribbean Biogeography.” Systematic Zoology 24: 431-464. A very lengthy, but interesting paper analyzing the geographical features and geophysical theories of the Caribbean. Separate parts of each generalized track (geographical feature) of the Caribbean are interpreted as remainders of the ancestral biota which most likely underwent geographical fragmentation followed by allopatric speciation/vicariance.

Rosenblatt, R. H. a. W., Robin S. (1986). “A Genetic Comparison of Allopatric Populations of Shore Fish Species from the Eastern and Central Pacific Ocean: Dispersal or Vicariance?” Copeia 2: 275-284. Compares populations of trans-Pacific shore fish and concludes long-range dispersal rather than vicariance. A well written and straight-forward paper. Even though one would intuitively conclude the dispersalist explanation for a marine species, the authors do a great job in their introduction at explaining how both dispersal and vicariance are equally probable in the marine realm.

Voelker, G. (1999). “Dispersal, Vicariance, and Clocks: Historical Biogeography and Speciation in a Cosmopolitan Passerine Genus.” Evolution 53(5): 1536-1552. Concluded dispersal as the main distribution mechanism for the cosmopolitan anthus genus. Covers a very wide geographical area with only 1 group of taxa, making this study very challenging. Voelker, however, does a fine job in achieving his best estimated conclusion while considering a thorough range of biogeographical theories and explanations.

Wiley, E. O. (1988). “Vicariance Biogeography.” Ann. Rev. Ecol. Syst. 19: 513-542. An excellent starting point in learning about vicariance biogeography. Includes briefings on vicariance vs. dispersal, dispersal vs. dispersion, paleontology in vicariance and more. Has a good section on various analyses available to estimate biogeographical histories.