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Related Experiment Video

Updated: Jun 8, 2026

Why Quantification Matters: Characterization of Phenotypes at the Drosophila Larval Neuromuscular Junction

Why Quantification Matters: Characterization of Phenotypes at the Drosophila Larval Neuromuscular Junction

Published on: May 12, 2016

Quantitative traits and diversification.

Richard G FitzJohn¹

¹Department of Zoology, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, BC, Canada. mail: fitzjohn@zoology.ubc.ca

Systematic Biology

|October 2, 2010

Summary

Quantitative traits influence speciation and extinction rates, impacting diversification. The new QuaSSE method effectively tests trait-dependent diversification using phylogenetic data.

Area of Science:

Evolutionary Biology
Phylogenetics
Quantitative Genetics

Background:

Quantitative traits are hypothesized to influence speciation and extinction rates.
Smaller body size or increased specialization may correlate with higher diversification rates.

Purpose of the Study:

Introduce a phylogenetic likelihood-based method, quantitative state speciation and extinction (QuaSSE).
Test hypotheses on trait-dependent diversification using extant character distributions.
Model diversification as a birth-death process with trait-varying rates.

Main Methods:

Developed QuaSSE, a phylogenetic likelihood method.
Assumes traits evolve under a diffusion model.
Speciation and extinction rates can be arbitrary functions of character state.

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Last Updated: Jun 8, 2026

Why Quantification Matters: Characterization of Phenotypes at the Drosophila Larval Neuromuscular Junction

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Quantifying Abdominal Pigmentation in Drosophila melanogaster

Quantifying Abdominal Pigmentation in Drosophila melanogaster

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Following the Dynamics of Structural Variants in Experimentally Evolved Populations

Following the Dynamics of Structural Variants in Experimentally Evolved Populations

Published on: February 3, 2023

Main Results:

QuaSSE recovered known trait-speciation relationships in up to 80% of simulations on large phylogenies.
Detecting extinction-driven diversification shifts was more challenging than speciation-driven shifts.
Applied QuaSSE to primate body size and diversification, finding clade-specific differences were more significant.

Conclusions:

QuaSSE is a flexible and effective tool for studying trait-dependent diversification.
Clade-specific factors may play a larger role in primate diversity patterns than body size alone.