Sampling bias and model choice in continuous phylogeography: Getting lost on a random walk.

ABSTRACT: Phylogeographic inference allows reconstruction of past geographical spread of pathogens or living organisms by integrating genetic and geographic data. A popular model in continuous phylogeography-with location data provided in the form of latitude and longitude coordinates-describes spread as a Brownian motion (Brownian Motion Phylogeography, BMP) in continuous space and time, akin to similar models of continuous trait evolution. Here, we show that reconstructions using this model can be strongly affected by sampling biases, such as the lack of sampling from certain areas. As an attempt to reduce the effects of sampling bias on BMP, we consider the addition of sequence-free samples from under-sampled areas. While this approach alleviates the effects of sampling bias, in most scenarios th

SUBMITTER: Kalkauskas A 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7815209 | biostudies-literature | 2021 Jan

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature