| Title | A Measure of the Information Content of Phylogenetic Trees and Its Use as an Optimality Criterion |
| Publication Type | Journal Article |
| Year of Publication | 1986 |
| Authors | Brooks DR, O'Grady RT, Wiley, III EO |
| Journal | Systematic Zoology |
| Volume | 35 |
| Pagination | 571-581 |
| Keywords | Biophysics - Biocybernetics, Computational Biology Evolution and Adaptation General Life Studies Models and Simulations 00504, Evolution 04500, General biology - Taxonomy, Mathematical biology and statistical methods 10515, nomenclature and terminology 01500 |
| Abstract | The D measure is presented as a quantification of historical constraints in phylogenetic data. It is derived from information-theoretic considerations, and offers increased resolution of the criteria used in parsimony analyses. Thus, it can be used as an optimality measure in phylogenetic studies. The D measure is more sensitive to the evolutionary nature (symplesiomorphy, synapomorphy, autapomorphy) of characters on trees than two commonly used phylogenetic optimality measures: the consistency index; and the F-ratio. The consistency index does not distinguish between shared and unique characters on a tree. The F-ratio is affected by factors relevant to undirected, rather than directed, trees. Neither the D measure nor the F-ratio are biased a priori towards choosing postulates of reversal or parallelism in equal-length trees. Neither the D means nor the F-ratio always indicate the shortest tree when used alone. The D measure can be used to choose among equal-length shortest trees that have been produced by standard parsimony techniques.
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