Skip Navigation

Systematic Biology 2006 55(4):652-661; doi:10.1080/10635150600889617
This Article
Right arrow Full Text Freely available
Right arrow FREE Full Text (PDF) Freely available
Right arrow Alert me when this article is cited
Right arrow Alert me if a correction is posted
Services
Right arrow Email this article to a friend
Right arrow Similar articles in this journal
Right arrow Similar articles in ISI Web of Science
Right arrow Alert me to new issues of the journal
Right arrow Add to My Personal Archive
Right arrow Download to citation manager
Right arrow Search for citing articles in:
ISI Web of Science (3)
Right arrowRequest Permissions
Google Scholar
Right arrow Articles by Matsen, F. A.
Right arrow Search for Related Content
PubMed
Right arrow Articles by Matsen, F. A.
Social Bookmarking
Add to CiteULike   Add to Connotea   Add to Del.icio.us  
What's this?

© 2006 Society of Systematic Biologists

A Geometric Approach to Tree Shape Statistics

Frederick A. Matsen

1 Program for Evolutionary Dynamics and Department of Mathematics, Harvard University One Brattle Square, 6th Floor, Cambridge, Massachusetts, 02138, USA E-mail: matsen{at}math.harvard.edu

Edited by Mike Steel: Associate Editor


  Abstract

This article presents a new way to quantify the descriptive ability of tree shape statistics. Where before, tree shape statistics were chosen by their ability to distinguish between macroevolutionary models, the resolution presented in this paper quantifies the ability of a statistic to differentiate between similar and different trees. This is termed the geometric approach to differentiate it from the model-based approach previously explored. A distinct advantage of this perspective is that it allows evaluation of multiple tree shape statistics describing different aspects of tree shape. After developing the methodology, it is applied here to make specific recommendations for a suite of three statistics that may prove useful in applications. The article ends with an application of the statistics to clarify the impact of taxa omission on tree shape.

Keywords: Macroevolutionary models; multidimensional scaling; nearest neighbor interchange metric; phylogenetic tree shape; tree estimation bias

Received December 17, 2005; Revised February 8, 2006; Accepted March 9, 2006
Add to CiteULike CiteULike   Add to Connotea Connotea   Add to Del.icio.us Del.icio.us    What's this?




Disclaimer: Please note that abstracts for content published before 1996 were created through digital scanning and may therefore not exactly replicate the text of the original print issues. All efforts have been made to ensure accuracy, but the Publisher will not be held responsible for any remaining inaccuracies. If you require any further clarification, please contact our Customer Services Department.