Atlantic reef fish biogeography and evolution

Abstract Aim To understand why and when areas of endemism (provinces) of the tropical Atlantic Ocean were formed, how they relate to each other, and what processes have contributed to faunal enrichment. Location Atlantic Ocean. Methods The distributions of 2605 species of reef fishes were compiled for 25 areas of the Atlantic and southern Africa. Maximum‐parsimony and distance analyses were employed to investigate biogeographical relationships among those areas. A collection of 26 phylogenies of various Atlantic reef fish taxa was used to assess patterns of origin and diversification relative to evolutionary scenarios based on spatio‐temporal sequences of species splitting produced by geological and…

• NS
  National Science Foundation

  Awards: 0072909, DEB-0072909
• SI
  Smithsonian Institution
• NG
  National Geographic Society

  Award: 7937-05
• UF
  Universidade Federal de Santa Catarina
• UO
  University of California, Santa Barbara
• ST
  Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute