Phylogenetic biogeography

Abstract

To do him full justice, Joseph D. Hooker has to be designated as the real founder of causal historical biogeography. In 1843 the young Hooker returned to England with a large plant collection and varied experiences from the ‘Antarctic’ voyage of the two ships Erebus and Terror under the command of James Clark Ross. During that lengthy voyage, Hooker had been able to study the floras of Tierra del Fuego, southern Australia and Tasmania, New Zealand and several islands in the southern temperate and subantarctic zones. The results were published in the Flora Antarctica (1844–47), Flora Novae Zelandiae (1853–55) and Flora Tasmaniae (1855–60). Although mainly taxonomic, these works contain introductory essays which are of great biogeographic interest.