Seaweed Phylogenetics, Evolution and Biogeography

Earlier work on seaweeds biogeography has shown spatial distribution patterns that differed greatly from land plants and other marine organisms. It was believed that seaweeds could freely disperse over long distances between marine regions and oceans, and numerous species were accepted to be cosmopolitan. The advent of molecular studies have since then challenged these notions across many groups, and have disclosed important genetic diversity within these so-called cosmopolitan species, in fine characterized by smaller geographical ranges. It is only now with extensive genetic data from large geographic scale that we are able to investigate evolutionary and historical biogeographic processes that have shaped seaweed diversification and present patterns of spatial distribution. However, such studies are still very limited, and in order to obtain a more complete understanding of the processes that drove seaweed evolution and biogeography, we need to multiply these studies across seaweed taxonomic groups and marine regions/oceans.



The objectives of this research topic are to improve our knowledge on seaweed evolution and biogeography, and more specifically to identify and interpret evolutionary and historical biogeographic patterns and processes. The generation of extensive geo-referenced genetic data across large geographic scales will be needed in order to build comprehensive and robust phylogenetic frameworks to explore macro-evolutionary processes. More specifically, the aims of this research topic are three-fold: (1) re-assess seaweed genetic (species) diversity through phylogenetic analyses, (2) discover present and historical geographic patterns, (3) and finally interpret evolutionary and historical biogeographic patterns and processes.



This research topic is targeting authors that are interested in contributing to the knowledge on seaweeds diversity, evolution and biogeography. Authors are invited to contribute to this article collection by focusing on their taxa of expertise covering a broad geographic area; by providing major genetic (species-level) re-assessment based on phylogenetic reconstruction; by exploring present and historical biogeographic patterns; and interpreting evolutionary and historical biogeographic patterns.