Aim The general dynamic model (GDM) of oceanic island biogeography proposes that evolutionary processes shift predictably with island ontogeny: opportunities for ecological speciation on young islands drive a rapid increase in diversity, which peaks on middle‐aged islands, then declines on older islands as extinction increases. Most studies reporting support for the GDM have not assessed the evolutionary processes associated w...

Wild congeners of cultivated fruit trees are vital sources of genetic diversity for crop improvement and key targets for conservation. However, cultivating crops within the range of rare wild congeners increases the risk of interspecific hybridization, threatening the genomic integrity of wild species. This is a concern for Pyrus in Central Asia, where a critically endangered wild species, P. korshinskyi , coexists with cultiv...

A common pattern observed in temperate tree clades is that species are often morphologically distinct and partially interfertile but maintain species cohesion despite ongoing hybridization where ranges overlap. Although closely related species commonly occur in sympatry in tropical ecosystems, little is known about patterns of hybridization within a clade over time, and the implications of this hybridization for the maintenanc...