Paleoecology and coalescence: phylogeographic analysis of hypotheses from the fossil record

The application of principles from coalescence theory to genealogical relat ionships within species can provide insights into the process of diversific ation and the influence of biogeography on distributional patterns. There a re several features that make some organisms more suitable for detailed stu dies of historical processes; in particular, limited dispersal, which serve s to conserve the patterns of genetic variation that developed during colon ization. We describe the potential benefits of studies that integrate analy ses of genetic variation with information from the fossil pollen record and present recent examples of the application of quantitative methods of phyl ogeographic analysis.