Biogeography

Dear Colleagues,

Biogeography is a field of study that aims to investigate how spatial and temporal patterns of different environmental factors influence the geographic distribution of the species and, consequently, their evolutionary history. Biogeography is a fascinating field that integrates data from many different disciplines: geography, geology, ecology, and biology to answer intriguing questions on the processes that govern distribution patterns of living organisms.

Contemporary biogeography can be divided into three main fields of study: historical biogeography, ecological biogeography, and conservation biogeography. Historical biogeography (also called paleobiogeography) studies the past distributions of species, ecological biogeography looks at the current factors responsible for the distribution of plants and animals, while conservation biogeography involves the application of biogeographical principles, theories, and analyses to problems regarding biodiversity conservation.

Even though scientists have been studying distribution plants for several centuries, a great number of questions remains open. New research methods are being introduced, allowing us to put distribution patterns observed by scientists in many new contexts. Considering the geographic distribution of individuals in light of genetics has led to the emergence of phylogeography. Advances in computer modeling has enabled numerous new insights into species distribution in the present, past, and future. In the past 10 years, great advances have been made concerning acquiring and deciphering genomic information. This fact, as well as the rapidly decreasing cost of DNA sequencing, has allowed a more widespread use of genomic data in biogeography. It is clear that in times of rapidly changing global climate, plant biogeographers have an important role to play in predicting the direction, pace, and consequences of global changes in plant distribution patterns.

This Special Issue on “Biogeography” in Plants welcomes primary research papers as well as reviews of the wide range of topics related to biogeography. It aims at providing a snapshot of contemporary research on phytogeography on both the local and global scale.

Dr. Pawel Wasowicz
Guest Editor

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