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The effects of topological inaccuracy in evolutionary trees on the phylogenetic comparative method of independent contrasts

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journal contribution
posted on 2002-08-01, 00:00 authored by Matthew SymondsMatthew Symonds
Computer simulations were used to test the effect of increasing phylogenetic topological inaccuracy on the results obtained from correlation tests of independent contrasts. Predictably, increasing the number of disruptions in the tree increases the likelihood of significant error in the r values produced and in the statistical conclusions drawn from the analysis. However, the position of the disruption in the tree is important: Disruptions closer to the tips of the tree have a greater effect than do disruptions that are close to the root of the tree. Independent contrasts derived from inaccurate topologies are more likely to lead to erroneous conclusions when there is a true significant relationship between the variables being tested (i.e., they tend to be conservative). The results also suggest that random phylogenies perform no better than nonphylogenetic analyses and, under certain conditions, may perform even worse than analyses using raw species data. Therefore, the use of random phylogenies is not beneficial in the absence of knowledge of the true phylogeny.

History

Journal

Systematic biology

Volume

51

Issue

4

Pagination

541 - 553

Publisher

Oxford University Press

Location

Oxford, Eng.

ISSN

1063-5157

eISSN

1076-836X

Language

eng

Publication classification

C1.1 Refereed article in a scholarly journal

Copyright notice

2002, Oxford University Press