Ending a decade of deception: a valiant failure, a not-so-valiant failure, and a success story |
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| Authors: | Daniel R Brooks Ashley P G Dowling Marco G P van Veller Eric P Hoberg |
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| Institution: | Department of Zoology, University of Toronto, M5S 3G5 Toronto, Ontario, Canada; Museum of Zoology and Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, University of Michigan, 1109 Geddes Avenue, Ann Arbor, MI 48109, USA; Biosystematics Group, Wageningen University, Generaal Foulkesweg 37, 6703 BL Wageningen, the Netherlands; US National Parasite Collection and the Parasite Biology, Epidemiology and Systematics Laboratory, US Department of Agriculture, Agricultural Research Service, BARC East 1180, 10300 Baltimore Avenue, Beltsville, MD 20705, USA |
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| Abstract: | Prior studies involving two methods, Brooks Parsimony Analysis (BPA) and TreeMap, have found BPA to be the more reliable method. Recent criticisms leveled at these studies argue that the tests were unfairly created and biased in favor of BPA. The authors of a recent critique offered new exemplars to demonstrate flaws in BPA, plus a simple fix to correct the flaws found in TreeMap. A re‐evaluation of their exemplars clearly shows that the authors' calculations are incorrect, their understanding of the methods is lacking, and that their simple fix does not work. Additional analyses using TreeMap 2.02 are run to show that TreeMap 2.02, like TreeMap 1.0, cannot adequately deal with widespread parasites, contrary to the claims of its supporters. Furthermore, the exemplars corroborate previous findings that BPA, when calculated correctly, is more reliable than TreeMap1.0 and TreeMap 2.02 and therefore the method of choice in coevolutionary and biogeographic studies. |
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