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A Practical Guide to Phylogenetics for Nonexperts
Published on: February 5, 2014
An Assessment of Phylogenetic Tools for Analyzing the Interplay Between Interspecific Interactions and Phenotypic
J P Drury1,2, G F Grether2, T Garland3
1Département de Biologie, Institut de Biologie, École Normale Supérieure, CNRS UMR 8197, 46 rue d'Ulm 75005 Paris, France.
Systematic Biology
|October 14, 2017
Summary
Many statistical methods fail to detect how species interactions affect trait evolution. Process-based models show more promise for understanding these ecological and evolutionary dynamics.
Area of Science:
- Ecology
- Evolutionary Biology
- Phylogenetics
- Quantitative Biology
Background:
- Interspecific interactions are theorized to drive phenotypic diversification.
- Species phenotypes are also known to influence species interactions.
- Phylogenetic comparative methods are used to study these reciprocal effects, but their statistical properties are often untested.
Purpose of the Study:
- To assess the performance of phylogenetic comparative methods in analyzing the interplay between interspecific interactions and species phenotypes.
- To identify reliable statistical approaches for studying trait evolution and species interactions.
- To guide empiricists in selecting appropriate methods and encourage the development of new models.
Main Methods:
- Focused on scenarios of competition between closely-related species.
- Evaluated the statistical properties of available comparative approaches.
- Compared the reliability of methods for detecting predictors of species interactions versus character displacement.
Main Results:
- Many current statistical methods frequently fail to detect the impact of interspecific interactions on trait evolution.
- Sister-taxa analyses were found to be particularly unreliable.
- Recently developed process-based models demonstrated more satisfactory statistical properties.
- Methods for detecting predictors of species interactions were generally more reliable than those for detecting character displacement.
Conclusions:
- Existing phylogenetic comparative methods have limitations in accurately assessing the reciprocal effects of species interactions and phenotypes.
- Process-based models offer a more statistically sound approach for studying these evolutionary dynamics.
- Further development of process-based models is recommended for robust empirical testing.
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