Translocation programmes are increasingly being informed by genetic data to monitor and enhance conservation outcomes for both natural and established populations. These data provide a window into contemporary patterns of genetic diversity, structure and relatedness that can guide managers in how to best source animals for their translocation programmes. The inclusion of historical samples, where possible, strengthens monitori...

Phylogeographic studies of continental clades, especially when combined with palaeoclimate modelling, provide powerful insight into how environment drives speciation across climatic contexts. Australia, a continent characterized by disparate modern biomes and dynamic climate change, provides diverse opportunity to reconstruct the impact of past and present environments on diversification. Here, we use genomic‐scale data (1310...

Population isolation and concomitant genetic divergence, resulting in strong phylogeographical structure, is a core aspect of speciation initiation. If and how speciation then proceeds and ultimately completes depends on multiple factors that mediate reproductive isolation, including divergence in genomes, ecology and mating traits. Here we explored these multiple dimensions in two young (Plio‐Pleistocene) species complexes of...

When closely related species come into contact via range expansion, both may experience reduced fitness as a result of the interaction. Selection is expected to favour traits that minimize costly interspecies reproductive interactions (such as mismating) via a phenomenon called reproductive character displacement (RCD). Research on RCD frequently assumes secondary contact between species, but the geographical history of specie...

Aim Understanding where and why species diversity is geographically concentrated remains a challenge in biogeography and macroevolution. This is true for the Cerrado, the most biodiverse tropical savanna in the world, which has experienced profound biodiversity loss. Previous studies have focused on a single metric (species composition), neglecting the fact that ‘species’ within the biome are often composed of cryptic species....

Aim Focussing on pairs of sister species across three genera of scincid lizards, we use genomic evidence to test for larger‐scale, late‐Pleistocene changes in distributions of lizards in the Australian arid zone (AZ) than in the adjacent monsoonal tropics (MT). Location Northern and central Australia. Taxon Scincidae: Squamata. Methods We sequenced ~2000 nuclear exons and one mitochondrial gene across the distributions of spec...

Aim The aim was to examine the links between past biome stability, vegetation dynamics and biodiversity patterns. Location South America. Time period Last 30,000 years. Major taxa studied Plants. Methods We classified South America into major biomes according to their dominant plant functional groups (grasses, trees and shrubs) and ran a random forest (RF) classification with data on current climate. We then fitted the algorit...

Species endemic to the tropical regions are expected to be vulnerable to future climate change due in part to their relatively narrow climatic niches. In addition, these species are more likely to have responded strongly to past climatic change, and this can be explored through phylogeographic analyses. To test the hypothesis that tropical specialists are more sensitive to climate change than climate generalists, we generated...

Prioritization of taxa for conservation must rest on a foundation of correctly identified species boundaries, enhanced by an understanding of evolutionary history and phylogenetic relationships. Therefore, we can incorporate both evolutionary and ecological processes into efforts to sustain biodiversity. In this issue of M olecular E cology, Malaney & Cook ( ) highlight the critical value of an evolutionary biogeographical app...

Projected effects of climate change on animal distributions primarily focus on consequences of temperature and largely ignore impacts of altered precipitation. While much evidence supports temperature‐driven range shifts, there is substantial heterogeneity in species' responses that remains poorly understood. We resampled breeding ranges of birds across three elevational transects in the S ierra N evada M ountains, USA , that...

There is increasing evidence for morphological change in response to recent environmental change, but how this relates to fluctuations in geographic range remains unclear. We measured museum specimens from two time periods (1902–1950 and 2000–2008) that vary significantly in climate to assess if and how two high elevation contracting species of ground squirrels in the Sierra Nevada of California, Belding's ground squirrel ( Ur...

There is a growing appreciation of impacts of late‐Quaternary climate fluctuations on spatial patterns of species and genetic diversity. A major challenge is to understand how and why species respond individualistically to a common history of climate‐induced habitat fluctuation. Here, we combine modelling of palaeo‐distributions and mitochondrial‐DNA phylogeographies to compare spatial patterns of population persistence and is...

Aim To provide a spatially explicit model of how geographic distributions at the last glacial maximum (LGM) and post‐glacial colonization routes shaped current migratory pathways in the Swainson's thrush, Catharus ustulatus , a long‐distance migratory bird. Location The Swainson's thrush breeds in boreal forest regions of the United States and Canada as well as in riparian woodlands along the Pacific coast of North America. Me...