{"id":334,"date":"2015-05-26T10:12:29","date_gmt":"2015-05-26T14:12:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/people.clas.ufl.edu\/ebraun\/?page_id=334"},"modified":"2026-03-19T08:29:19","modified_gmt":"2026-03-19T12:29:19","slug":"evol01","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/people.clas.ufl.edu\/ebraun\/publications\/evol01\/","title":{"rendered":"Polytomies, the Power of Phylogenetic Inference, and the Stochastic Nature of Molecular Evolution: a Comment on Walsh et al. (1999)"},"content":{"rendered":"\r\n
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Polytomies, the Power of Phylogenetic Inference, and the Stochastic Nature of Molecular Evolution: a Comment on Walsh et al. (1999)<\/h1>\n\n\n\n

Evolution<\/em>, Vol. 55, pp. 1261\u00ad1263<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n

Link to\u00a0Evolution<\/a><\/em>\u00a0home page.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n

Full text is available to Evolution subscribers from the journal\u00a0home page<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Polytomies, the Power of Phylogenetic Inference, and the Stochastic Nature of Molecular Evolution: a Comment on Walsh et al. (1999)<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Edward L. Braun*<\/sup><\/wbr>\u00a0and<\/wbr>\u00a0Rebecca T. Kimball<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n

Departments of Plant Biology (E.L.B.) and Evolution, Ecology and Organismal Biology (R.T.K.), The Ohio State University, Columbus, Ohio 43210
\nE.L.B.<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0R.T.K.<\/a>\u00a0are currently in the Department of Zoology at the University of Florida.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n

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Description of Paper<\/strong>, published as a\u00a0Brief Communication<\/strong>\u00a0in\u00a0Evolution<\/i><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The frequent recovery\u00a0of polytomies (multifurcating rather\u00a0than bifurcating relationships)\u00a0in phylogenetic\u00a0analyses has prompted\u00a0interest in the\u00a0biological nature of\u00a0these inferred polytomies.\u00a0Polytomies may reflect\u00a0the inability to resolve\u00a0bifurcating relationships (\u201csoft\u201d\u00a0polytomies) or they may represent\u00a0multiple simultaneous\u00a0speciation events (\u201chard\u201d\u00a0polytomies; see Hoelzer\u00a0and Melnick 1994\u00a0for additional\u00a0discussion). Walsh et al. (1999)\u00a0recently suggested that\u00a0power analysis might provide\u00a0an excellent framework for\u00a0examining the nature\u00a0of polytomies. We found this\u00a0approach to be an innovative\u00a0an interesting way to examine\u00a0the question,\u00a0but we also proposed\u00a0a more direct way to\u00a0examine the power of\u00a0phylogenetic analyses\u00a0to examine the null\u00a0hypothesis of a polytomy\u00a0in this brief communication.\u00a0Walsh and Friesen (2001)\u00a0agreed that our general\u00a0approach was sound,\u00a0but pointed out\u00a0that the worked example\u00a0in our comment required\u00a0a larger power (had\u00a0reduced type II\u00a0error) than those typically\u00a0used by convention.<\/p>\n\n\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

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\"polytomy\"<\/a><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n<\/div>\n\n\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n\n\n

E.L.B. was supported by a United States Department of Agriculture fellowship (1999-01582) and R.T.K. was supported by a National Science Foundation grant to D. J. Crawford<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n

*<\/sup>\u00a0Corresponding author<\/p>\n\n\n\n

References for the description of this paper:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

  1. Hoelzer, GA & DJ Melnick.<\/strong>\u00a01994. Patterns of speciation and limits to phylogenetic resolution.\u00a0Trends in Ecology and Evolution<\/i>\u00a09:104\u00ad107.<\/li>\n
  2. Walsh, HE & VL Friesen.<\/strong>\u00a02001. Power and stochasticity in the resolution of soft polytomies: a reply to Braun et al.\u00a0Evolution<\/i>\u00a055, No. 6:1264\u00ad1266.<\/li>\n
  3. Walsh, HE, MG Kidd, T Moum & VL Friesen.<\/strong>\u00a01999. Polytomies and the power of phylogenetic inference.\u00a0Evolution<\/i>\u00a053:932\u00ad937.
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