分子系统地理学及其应用

分子系统地理学是20世纪70年代中期伴随着对线粒体DNA的认识而开始酝酿发展的，本文回顾了该学科自诞生以来的发展简史，阐述了其研究内容，着重从3个方面介绍了该领域在其它相关学科中的研究进展，总结了该学科存在的问题，并提出重点应解决的3个问题：1）将细胞器基因与遗传信息更为丰富的核基因相结合；2）合生理论在非平衡种群中的发展应用；3）提高对分化时间估计的精确性。

MOLECULAR PHYLOGEOGRAPHY AND APPLICATIONS

Molecular phylogeography is a field of study concerned with the principle and process governing the geographic distributions of genealogical lineages, especially those at the intraspecific level. Combining data from genetic markers, these studies reveal the dominant influence of historical events in shaping existing spatial distribution patterns of populations. Molecular phylogeography seeks to test the congruence between the evolutionary, demographic and distributional histories of taxa against the particular geological and ecological setting of a region and to determine the chronology of evolutionary diversification, in turn, enable us to retrace the movements events and evolution of the taxa. This paper documents the explosive growth since its inception and notes many studies that have provided a link between the traditionally distinct fields of population genetics and phylogenetic biology. We focus on the application of molecular phylogeography to related subjects and propose that this analysis can contribute to broader studies of phylogenetic, landscape evolution and conservation in a number of ways. First of all, molecular phylogeography can provide an evolutionary and geographical context for the species comprising ecological communities, thus permitting determination of historical influence on patterns of population phylogeography structure. Secondly, molecular phylogeographic analysis will provided biological evidence for landscape evolution, including the dispersal of taxa through a region, speciation, adaptive radiation and extinction. Thirdly, an understanding of spatial information on genetic diversity and identification of evolutionarily isolated areas can inform conservation strategies. At the end, this paper closes with predictions about the major challenges that we will meet in the future. These are: 1) combination of organelle and nuclear gene that encompasses more abundant genetic information;2) new developments in coalescence theory applied to nonequilibrium populations; 3) to increase the precision with which the timing of separation events can be estimated.