Basic problems of biogeography

Abstract

Darwin interpreted most of biogeographic distributions as a consequence of dispersal events. The dispersionist approach lasted till the half of the XX century, but then an alternative paradigm arose: vicariantist biogeography. Madagascan carnivores and lemurs, e.g., were considered as heirs of old Gondwanian ancestors. But new phylogeographic research, based on molecular biology, discovered that they evolved, in different times, after the parting of Madagascar from continental Africa, supporting the dispersionist approach. Nowadays, the two paradigms are welcome in all the different cases, thus avoiding the old disputes typical of the last century.