The spatial dispersion of an organismal lineage from a single descendant is a direct consequence of gene flow. Thus, an analysis of this process can be similar to that used for direct estimates of gene flow from mark-and-recapture data. Development of this approach as a method for estimating gene flow requires genetic markers that delineate lineages of sufficiently recent origin, and models that provide a framework for estimating dispersion parameters. This approach has been applied to large scale patterns of animal mtDNA variation, with encouraging results.