Effects of phylogenetic signal on ancestral state reconstruction.

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Serval ID
serval:BIB_6A6DFBE12701
Type
Article: article from journal or magazin.
Collection
Publications
Institution
Title
Effects of phylogenetic signal on ancestral state reconstruction.
Journal
Systematic Biology
Author(s)
Litsios G., Salamin N.
ISSN
1076-836X (Electronic)
ISSN-L
1063-5157
Publication state
Published
Issued date
2012
Peer-reviewed
Oui
Volume
61
Number
3
Pages
533-538
Language
english
Abstract
One of the standard tools used to understand the processes shaping trait evolution along the branches of a phylogenetic tree is the reconstruction of ancestral states (Pagel 1999). The purpose is to estimate the values of the trait of interest for every internal node of a phylogenetic tree based on the trait values of the extant species, a topology and, depending on the method used, branch lengths and a model of trait evolution (Ronquist 2004). This approach has been used in a variety of contexts such as biogeography (e.g., Nepokroeff et al. 2003, Blackburn 2008), ecological niche evolution (e.g., Smith and Beaulieu 2009, Evans et al. 2009) and metabolic pathway evolution (e.g., Gabaldón 2003, Christin et al. 2008).
Investigations of the factors affecting the accuracy with which ancestral character states can be reconstructed have focused in particular on the choice of statistical framework (Ekman et al. 2008) and the selection of the best model of evolution (Cunningham et al. 1998, Mooers et al. 1999). However, other potential biases affecting these methods, such as the effect of tree shape (Mooers 2004), taxon sampling (Salisbury and Kim 2001) as well as reconstructing traits involved in species diversification (Goldberg and Igić 2008), have also received specific attention. Most of these studies conclude that ancestral character states reconstruction is still not perfect, and that further developments are necessary to improve its accuracy (e.g., Christin et al. 2010). Here, we examine how different estimations of branch lengths affect the accuracy of ancestral character state reconstruction. In particular, we tested the effect of using time-calibrated versus molecular branch lengths and provide guidelines to select the most appropriate branch lengths to reconstruct the ancestral state of a trait.
Keywords
ancestral character state, phylogenetic signal, chronogram, phylogram, simulations, character evolution, comparative analysis, branch length, molecular clock
Pubmed
Web of science
Open Access
Yes
Create date
28/09/2011 21:43
Last modification date
25/09/2019 6:09
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