Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-gxg78 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-25T21:22:42.043Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

New uses for new phylogenies

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  13 July 2009

Paul H. Harvey  and
Sean Nee
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Comparison of the molecular structure of genetic material from living species reveals evolutionary relationships, and estimates of dates when pairs of species last shared a common ancestor. The resulting evolutionary trees, which are accumulating rapidly in the literature to complement those trees produced from fossil records, can be used to reveal hitherto unsuspected patterns in the evolutionary record. In particular, the trees can be analysed to show when rates of speciation and extinction were abnormally high or low. Together with estimates of ancestral character states and environments, these data throw new light on the reasons for speciation and extinction. This article describes how statistical methods are being developed and used to analyse molecular phylogenies.

Type
Research Article
Information
European Review , Volume 1 , Issue 1 , January 1993 , pp. 11 - 19
Copyright
Copyright © Academia Europaea 1993

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

1.Guyer, C. and Slowinski, J. B. (1991) Comparisons of observed phylogenetic topologies with null expectations among three monophyletic lineages. Evolution 45, 340–350.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
2.Slowinski, J. B. and Guyer, C. (1989) Testing the stochasticity of patterns of organismal diversity: an improved null model. American Naturalist 134, 907–921.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
3.Kirkpatrick, M. and Slatkin, M. (1993) Searching for evolutionary patterns in the shape of a phylogenetic tree. Evolution (in press).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
4.Harvey, P. H., Nee, S., Mooers, A. Ø. and Partridge, L. (1992) These hierarchical views of life: phylogenies and metapopulations. In Genes in Ecology. Berry, R. J. and Crawford, T. J. (Eds). British Ecological Society Special Publication. Blackwell. pp. 123–137.Google Scholar
5.Nee, S., Mooers, A. Ø. and Harvey, P. H. (1992) The tempo and mode of evolution revealed from molecular phylogenies. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (USA) 89, 8322–8326.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
6.Sibley, C. G. and Ahlquist, J. E. (1990) Phylogeny and Classification of Birds Yale University Press, New Haven.Google Scholar
7.Mooers, A. Ø., Nee, S. and Harvey, P. H. (1993) Biological and algorithmic correlates of phenetic tree pattern. Biological Journal of the Linnean Society (in press).Google Scholar
8.Felsenstein, J. (1985) Phylogenies and the comparative method. American Naturalist 125, 1–15.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
9.Harvey, P. H. and Pagel, M. D. (1991) The Comparative Method in Evolutionary Biology. Oxford University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar