Prospects for nuclear gene phylogeography

In phylogeography, an empirical focus on gene lineages enables the history of population processes to be inferred from the simultaneous analysis of te mporal and spatial patterns. Rapidly evolving cytoplasmic DNA has been the empirical workhorse propelling the success of this nascent field. Now, as m ore sophisticated historical models are being tested, there is a growing ne ed for phylogeography to expand from a largely marker-specific discipline t o a more general analytical approach that can be applied across independent loci. Recent results using nuclear haplotypes to study phylogeography indi cate that the anticipated technical and biological hurdles can be overcome in many taxa to achieve phylogeographical comparisons across unlinked loci. Although many challenges remain, a more complete understanding of the hist orical, demographic and selective processes shaping phylogeographical patte rns is emerging.