Taxacom: New insights into New Caledonia biogeography

[John Grehan]

For those interested, the following paper has just been published.

Heads, M. 2023. Methods in molecular biogeography: The case of New
Caledonia. Journal of Biogeography. DOI: 10.1111/jbi.14600

Abstract
Aim: To examine the different methods currently used in molecular
biogeography. Methods of interpreting evolution in space (ancestral-area
algorithms) always find a centre of origin for a group in the region of a
paraphyletic basal grade, although regionally restricted basal grades can
also be generated by simple vicariance. Current analyses of the timeline of
evolution are usually based on the conversion of fossil calibrated ages
(minimum clade ages) into maximum clade ages by imposing
arbitrary, subjective priors. Thus, methods of analysing both space and
time in evolution are flawed in theory. They are also inefficient in
practice, as indicated by recent papers on the history of the New
Caledonian biota, examined here as a case-study. Work using
current methods has left the phenomena as unexplained ‘conundrums’ and
‘enigmas’.
Location: New Caledonia and surrounding areas.
Taxon: Various plants and animals.
Methods: The method favoured here is a synthesis of biogeography and
geology.
Tectonic features that coincide spatially with phylogenetic breaks (nodes)
are identified. Fossils are used to provide estimates of minimum clade age,
while the age of the tectonic features provides estimate of actual clade
age. If the sequence of nodes in the phylogeny and the chronological
sequence of the tectonic events match, a coherent sequence of vicariance
events is indicated.
Results: Several critical studies on New Caledonian biogeography have been
published in the last 5 years. The results from these can be analysed using
revised methodology and integrated to give an alternative model of regional
history.
Main Conclusions: The synthesis of geology and biology suggests a new
interpretation of the New Caledonian biota, one in which the key processes
are tectonic history, vicariance and metapopulation dynamics, rather than
chance dispersal (as a mode of speciation), adaptation and radiation. The
new model recognises the autochthonous, Mesozoic roots of many New
Caledonian lineages

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