Two waves of diversification in mammals and reptiles of Baja California revealed by hierarchical Bayesian analysis.

ABSTRACT: Many species inhabiting the Peninsular Desert of Baja California demonstrate a phylogeographic break at the mid-peninsula, and previous researchers have attributed this shared pattern to a single vicariant event, a mid-peninsular seaway. However, previous studies have not explicitly considered the inherent stochasticity associated with the gene-tree coalescence for species preceding the time of the putative mid-peninsular divergence. We use a Bayesian analysis of a hierarchical model to test for simultaneous vicariance across co-distributed sister lineages sharing a genealogical break at the mid-peninsula. This Bayesian method is advantageous over traditional phylogenetic interpretations of biogeography because it considers the genetic variance associated with the coalescent and mutational

SUBMITTER: Leache AD 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC2391217 | biostudies-literature | 2007 Dec

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature