On the search for congruent patterns in biogeography

Abstract

Biogeography is much more complex than the clear-cut application of an analytical method. It deals with the combined analysis of the spatial and temporal components of the evolutionary process. Even if the traditional problems of biogeographical analysis were successfully solved, the resultant biogeographical pattern is not necessarily meaningful as an evolutionary scenario. It must be tested in the light of other hypotheses in search for congruence. To this purpose, the concept of reciprocal illumination is needed. This procedure aims to evaluate the robustness of biogeographical patterns as descriptions of how life changes in space and time, putting biogeography closer to Croizat’s statement of evolution as a three dimensional phenomenon.