Reconstruction of the demographic and evolutionary history of populations assuming a consensus tree‐like relationship can mask more complex scenarios, which are prevalent in nature. An emerging genomic toolset, which has been most comprehensively harnessed in the reconstruction of human evolutionary history, enables molecular ecologists to elucidate complex population histories. Killer whales have limited extrinsic barriers to...

We investigate the effect of spatial range expansions on the evolution of fitness when beneficial and deleterious mutations cosegregate. We perform individual‐based simulations of 1 D and 2 D range expansions and complement them with analytical approximations for the evolution of mean fitness at the edge of the expansion. We find that deleterious mutations accumulate steadily on the wave front during range expansions, thus cre...

In lichen symbiosis, fungal and algal partners form close associations, often codispersed by vegetative propagules. Due to the particular interdependence, processes such as colonization, dispersal or genetic drift are expected to result in congruent patterns of genetic structure in the symbionts. To study the population structure of an obligate symbiotic system in E urope, we genotyped the fungal and algal symbionts of the epi...

This study puts together genetic data and an approximate bayesian computation (ABC) approach to infer the time at which the tree Geoffroea spinosa colonized the Galápagos Islands. The genetic diversity and differentiation between Peru and Galápagos population samples, estimated using three chloroplast spacers and six microsatellite loci, reveal significant differences between two mainland regions separated by the Andes mountai...

Natural colonizations across watersheds have been frequently proposed to explain the present distributions of many freshwater fish species. However, detailed studies of such potential watershed crossings are still missing. Here, we investigated potential postglacial watershed crossings of the widely distributed European bullhead ( Cottus gobio L.) in two different areas along the Rhine–Rhône watershed using detailed genetic an...

We present a new approach for defining groups of populations that are geographically homogeneous and maximally differentiated from each other. As a by‐product, it also leads to the identification of genetic barriers between these groups. The method is based on a simulated annealing procedure that aims to maximize the proportion of total genetic variance due to differences between groups of populations (spatial analysis of mole...