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Updated: Mar 1, 2026
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A Practical Guide to Phylogenetics for Nonexperts
Published on: February 5, 2014
36.2K
THE USEFULNESS OF BEHAVIOR FOR PHYLOGENY ESTIMATION: LEVELS OF HOMOPLASY IN BEHAVIORAL AND MORPHOLOGICAL CHARACTERS
Alan de Queiroz1, Peter H Wimberger1
1Section of Ecology and Systematics, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY, 14853, USA.
Summary
Behavioral traits are as useful as morphological traits for phylogenetic analysis. Studies show no significant difference in homoplasy levels, challenging assumptions about behavioral data
Area of Science:
- Evolutionary biology
- Systematics
- Phylogenetics
Background:
- Morphological characters are traditionally favored over behavioral characters in phylogenetic studies.
- Behavioral traits are often perceived as more evolutionarily labile and harder to quantify.
Purpose of the Study:
- To compare the utility of behavioral versus morphological characters for estimating phylogenetic relationships.
- To assess the levels of homoplasy in behavioral and morphological data sets.
Main Methods:
- Analysis of 22 datasets containing both morphological and behavioral characters.
- Comparison of consistency indices (CIs) measuring homoplasy between character types.
- Analysis of 8 purely behavioral datasets against 32 purely morphological datasets.
Main Results:
- No significant difference in mean consistency indices (CIs) was found between morphological and behavioral characters within mixed datasets.
- Overall CIs for purely behavioral datasets showed no significant difference compared to purely morphological datasets.
- Confidence intervals indicated morphological characters do not possess substantially higher mean CIs than behavioral characters.
Conclusions:
- Behavioral characters are as useful as morphological characters for phylogenetic inference.
- The study challenges the prevailing view that behavioral data is less reliable for reconstructing evolutionary history.
- Findings support the broader application of behavioral data in systematic studies.
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