ABSTRACT
The distributions and times to the most common ancestor of the American founder-haplogroups have been of considerable interest. The genetic evidence suggests that most Native American diversity can be accounted for by one major migration into Beringia, with dispersal into the rest of the continents 20–15 KYA. A large body of evidence shows that genetic diversity is lower in the Americas than in other continents. A tree of Near and Remote Oceanic populations constructed from genetic distances between them shows little correspondence with the traditional classification of the islands. Studies of the biological impact of the last ice age have been greatly informed by noting common patterns of genetic diversity among several extant floral and faunal species. The potential for gaining insight into human migration from the genetics of nonhuman species has been explored in the settlement of the Pacific.
