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The coup de grâce for the nested clade phylogeographic analysis?
Author(s) -
PETIT RÉMY J.
Publication year - 2008
Publication title -
molecular ecology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.619
H-Index - 225
eISSN - 1365-294X
pISSN - 0962-1083
DOI - 10.1111/j.1365-294x.2007.03589.x
Subject(s) - phylogeography , biology , clade , false positive paradox , data science , evolutionary biology , ecology , genealogy , computer science , phylogenetics , machine learning , genetics , history , gene
Nested clade phylogeographic analysis (NCPA) has become a popular method for reconstructing the history of populations across species ranges. Ever since its invention in 1995, criticisms have been formulated, but the method, which has been regularly updated, continues to attract investigators. Molecular Ecology has published a large fraction of the literature on the topic — both pro and con. A recent study by Panchal and Beaumont (2007) finally allows a precise evaluation of the method by developing software that automates the somewhat complicated NCPA procedure. Using simulations of random‐mating populations, Panchal and Beaumont find a high frequency of false‐positives with their automated NCPA procedure (over 75%). These findings, which echo and amplify earlier warnings, appear serious enough to suggest to researchers to await further evaluation of the method. Although no other all‐encompassing method such as the NCAP currently exists to evaluate phylogeographic data sets, researchers have many alternative methods to test ever more refined hypotheses.