Dispersal is a central process in ecology and evolution. At the individual level, the three stages of the dispersal process (i.e., emigration, transience and immigration) are affected by complex interactions between phenotypes and environmental factors. Condition‐ and context‐dependent dispersal have far‐reaching consequences, both for the demography and the genetic structuring of natural populations and for adaptive processes...

Aim Species distribution modelling, a family of statistical methods that predicts species distributions from a set of occurrences and environmental predictors, is now routinely applied in many macroecological studies. However, the reliability of evaluation metrics usually employed to validate these models remains questioned. Moreover, the emergence of online databases of environmental variables with global coverage, especially...

Adaptation to changing environments often requires novel traits, but how such traits directly affect the ecological niche remains poorly understood. Multiple plant lineages have evolved C 4 photosynthesis, a combination of anatomical and biochemical novelties predicted to increase productivity in warm and arid conditions. Here, we infer the dispersal history across geographical and environmental space in the only known species...

The giant hogweed ( Heracleum mantegazzianum ) has successfully invaded 19 European countries as well as parts of North America. It has become a problematic species due to its ability to displace native flora and to cause public health hazards. Applying population genetics to species invasion can help reconstruct invasion history and may promote more efficient management practice. We thus analysed levels of genetic variation a...

Geographical isolation and polyploidization are central concepts in plant evolution. The hierarchical organization of archipelagos in this study provides a framework for testing the evolutionary consequences for polyploid taxa and populations occurring in isolation. Using amplified fragment length polymorphism and simple sequence repeat markers, we determined the genetic diversity and differentiation patterns at three levels o...

Aim The olive tree is considered one of the best indicators of the Mediterranean climate. The species’ distribution is associated with geographical and bioclimatic factors, as well as being influenced by a long period of cultivation. Despite concerted efforts of different research groups, the origin of the Mediterranean olive tree still remains elusive. In the present study, relationships between taxa and populations covering...

Diversity and differentiation among three populations representing the geographical domains commonly recognized within the natural distribution area of Picea abies were analysed by using a set of 292 AFLP (amplified fragment length polymorphism), SSR (single sequence repeat) and ESTP (expressed sequence tags polymorphism) markers. As usually observed in forest trees, results showed high within‐population diversity ( H S reachi...