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ESTIMATING PHYLOGENETIC INERTIA IN TITHONIA (ASTERACEAE): A COMPARATIVE APPROACH
Author(s) -
Morales Eduardo
Publication year - 2000
Publication title -
evolution
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.84
H-Index - 199
eISSN - 1558-5646
pISSN - 0014-3820
DOI - 10.1111/j.0014-3820.2000.tb00050.x
Subject(s) - phylogenetic tree , biology , phylogenetic comparative methods , phylogenetics , evolutionary biology , subspecies , most recent common ancestor , zoology , genetics , gene
.— Phylogenetic inertia is a difficult issue in evolutionary biology because we have yet to reach a consensus about how to measure it. In this study a comparative approach is used to evaluate phylogenetic inertia in 14 demographic and morphological characters in 10 species and one subspecies of the genus Tithonia (Asteraceae). Three different methods, autocorrelational analysis, phylogenetic correlograms, and ancestor‐state reconstruction, were used to evaluate phylogenetic inertia in these traits. Results were highly dependent on the method applied. Autoregression and phylogenetic eigenvector regression (PVR) methods found more inertia in morphological traits. In contrast, phylogenetic correlograms and ancestor‐state reconstruction suggest that morphological characters exhibit less phylogenetic inertia than demographic ones. The differences between results are discussed and methods are compared in an effort to understand phylogenetic inertia more thoroughly.