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Updated: Mar 11, 2026

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Published on: August 18, 2023
Identifying Optimal Models of Evolution
Lars S Jermiin1, Vivek Jayaswal2, Faisal M Ababneh3
1CSIRO Land & Water, Canberra, ACT, Australia. lars.jermiin@csiro.au.
Abstract:
Most phylogenetic methods are model-based and depend on models of evolution designed to approximate the evolutionary processes. Several methods have been developed to identify suitable models of evolution for phylogenetic analysis of alignments of nucleotide or amino acid sequences and some of these methods are now firmly embedded in the phylogenetic protocol. However, in a disturbingly large number of cases, it appears that these models were used without acknowledgement of their inherent shortcomings. In this chapter, we discuss the problem of model selection and show how some of the inherent shortcomings may be identified and overcome.
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