Spatial phylogenetics: how branches are distributed in the geographic space

Written on December 4th, 2024 by Ixchel S. González Ramírez

Spatial phylogenetics is an approach that studies the distribution of lineages across space. For this, we draw on the available genetic and collection data to 1) build phylogenies, and 2) characterize de distribution of taxa, to then study what lineages are represented across geographic space.

Since phylogenetic diversity is a good proxy for many important diversity traits (e.g. morphological and functional diversity), I am particularly interested in the conservation applications of this approach.

We recently used the spatial phylogenetics approach for California bryophytes. In this project we were interested in contrasting the byophyte phylogenetic diversity patterns, to the well known patterns of vascular plants. Furthermore, we present a methodological modification that allows to maximize the information obtained by species distribution models, and that we believe is an improvement on the treatment of information. You can read the preprint of this work HERE.