Oak species phylogeography through the American continent

Collaborative efforts between researchers across the American continent using phylogenomic, biogeographic and phylogeographic approaches have allowed a renewed view of oak evolution. The main oak lineages originated at temperate latitudes and later colonized Mexico, where a rapid diversification occurred. Through Central America there is a latitudinal reduction in species number until Colombia, where a single species recently colonized the Andes. However, oak evolution in Central America was not a simple north-south migration, but a history of diversification driven by climate changes and geographic barriers. The emergence of this picture has been possible through complex, but fruitful, multinational collaboration.