Comment on Rieux and Balloux: calibration from tip‐dating can compromise topological accuracy and evolutionary inference |
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| Authors: | Brent C. Emerson Diego F. Alvarado‐Serrano Michael J. Hickerson |
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| Affiliation: | 1. Island Ecology and Evolution Research Group, Instituto de Productos Naturales y Agrobiología (IPNA‐CSIC), La Laguna, Tenerife, Canary Islands, Spain;2. School of Biological Sciences, Norwich Research Park, University of East Anglia, Norwich, UK;3. Biology Department, City College of New York, New York, NY, USA;4. The Graduate Center, City University of New York, New York, NY, USA;5. Division of Invertebrate Zoology, American Museum of Natural History, New York, NY, USA |
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| Abstract: | We contribute to the recent review of Rieux & Balloux, 2016, Mol. Ecol., 25, 1911 on inferences from tip‐dated phylogenies by developing their discussion on the influence of population size (Ne) under panmixia for the estimation of substitution rate (μ). We highlight how phylogenetic trees inferred with tip‐dated sequences under large panmictic Ne tend to erroneously enforce an age‐based coalescent pattern on the posterior distribution of trees, which in turn results in systematically inflated estimates of μ. We discuss the consequences of this and suggest how to accommodate the issue in the short term and long term. |
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