Estimating the Rate of Phenotypic Evolution from Comparative Data

This study presents a method to estimate rates of evolutionary change in continuous characters from comparative data. The technique is similar to those introduced previously in which between-species divergence is estimated as a function of time since divergence but also takes into account the possib...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:The American naturalist 1994-08, Vol.144 (2), p.193-209
Main Author: Martins, Emilia P.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Biological and medical sciences
Biological evolution
Estimation methods
Evolution
Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology
Genetic drift
Genetics of eukaryotes. Biological and molecular evolution
Natural selection
Phylogenetics
Quantitative traits
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Summary:This study presents a method to estimate rates of evolutionary change in continuous characters from comparative data. The technique is similar to those introduced previously in which between-species divergence is estimated as a function of time since divergence but also takes into account the possible statistical nonindependence of trait values measured from phylogenetically related species in an approach similar to the independent contrasts methods used in interspecific data analysis. The use of Ornstein-Uhlenbeck processes is also proposed to extend the standard Brownian motion model of evolutionary change and to allow for tests of neutral evolution versus evolution under stabilizing selection. Applications of the method to test specific hypotheses of phenotypic evolution (including the adequacy of Brownian motion to describe real data), to compare rates of change of different types of characters or different groups of organisms, and to estimate branch lengths in units of expected variance of change as required by most comparative-method data analysis techniques are discussed.
ISSN:0003-0147
1537-5323
DOI:10.1086/285670