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A Practical Guide to Phylogenetics for Nonexperts

A Practical Guide to Phylogenetics for Nonexperts

Published on: February 5, 2014

Differences between hard and soft phylogenetic data.

Robert S Sansom¹, Matthew A Wills²

¹School of Earth and Environmental Sciences, University of Manchester, Manchester M13 9PT, UK robert.sansom@manchester.ac.uk.

Proceedings. Biological Sciences

|December 15, 2017

Summary

This summary is machine-generated.

Phylogenetic signal in morphological data varies significantly between hard and soft traits. This inconsistency, linked to missing data, impacts evolutionary inferences from fossil records, particularly for mammals and bivalves.

Keywords:

heterogeneity missing data morphology partition phylogenetics

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Area of Science:

Evolutionary biology
Systematics
Paleontology

Background:

Phylogenetic signal variability is crucial for evolutionary studies.
Gene sequences are commonly partitioned, but morphological data rarely are.
This overlooks potential biases in morphological data for evolutionary reconstruction.

Purpose of the Study:

To investigate phylogenetic signal heterogeneity within morphological data.
To compare the phylogenetic signal of 'hard' versus 'soft' morphological characters.
To assess the consistency of morphological partitions against molecular data.

Main Methods:

Applied partition heterogeneity tests to 59 animal datasets.
Analyzed differences in phylogenetic signal between hard (e.g., bones) and soft (e.g., myology) characters.
Compared morphological partition consistency with independent molecular phylogenies.

Main Results:

Significant differences in phylogenetic signal were found between hard and soft morphological characters.
Morphological partitions showed varying consistency relative to molecular phylogenies.
Observed morphological differences correlated with missing data biases.

Conclusions:

Morphological data partitions exhibit heterogeneity, impacting phylogenetic reconstruction.
Inferences from fossil data may be less secure in clades with inconsistent hard characters (e.g., mammals).
Considering missing data and inter-module differences is vital for robust evolutionary analyses.