Diversity, disparity, and evolutionary rate estimation for unresolved Yule trees.

ABSTRACT: The branching structure of biological evolution confers statistical dependencies on phenotypic trait values in related organisms. For this reason, comparative macroevolutionary studies usually begin with an inferred phylogeny that describes the evolutionary relationships of the organisms of interest. The probability of the observed trait data can be computed by assuming a model for trait evolution, such as Brownian motion, over the branches of this fixed tree. However, the phylogenetic tree itself contributes statistical uncertainty to estimates of rates of phenotypic evolution, and many comparative evolutionary biologists regard the tree as a nuisance parameter. In this article, we present a framework for analytically integrating over unknown phylogenetic trees in comparative evolutionary

SUBMITTER: Crawford FW 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3622899 | biostudies-literature | 2013 May

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature