Postdoctoral Fellow
Sticky tips and misplaced roots: is there a bias in intraspecific phylogenetics?
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| PI(s): |
Trina E Roberts |
| Start Date: |
1-Aug-2008 |
| End Date: |
31-Jul-2011 |
| Keywords: |
phylogenetics, computational modeling, empirical studies |
Biologists infer the evolutionary trees connecting individuals, populations, and species by analyzing genetic and anatomical data. The methods we use to determine trees from raw data, while computationally advanced, are always forced to make simplifying assumptions about the details of complex evolutionary processes. False inferences about evolutionary history can result if our assumptions are too far from reality—and this is hard to check, because we don’t know the true evolutionary history for most groups of organisms. I am currently testing one important question about tree reconstruction: how we know where evolutionary trees are rooted. With trees at a low taxonomic level (often connecting individuals and populations rather than species), I think the roots of trees are sometimes being inferred incorrectly. I am investigating this with a combination of techniques, including simulating DNA sequence data on a known tree and then testing whether that tree can be inferred correctly from the simulated data.
Related products
Publications
- Molecular phylogeny of treeshrews (Mammalia: Scandentia) and the timescale of diversification in Southeast Asia Trina E. Roberts, Hayley C. Lanier, Eric J. Sargis and Link E. Olson. 2011, Molecular phylogeny of treeshrews (Mammalia: Scandentia) and the timescale of diversification in Southeast Asia, Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution, volume 60, issue 3, pp. 358-372
- The biogeography of introgression in the critically endangered African monkey Rungwecebus kipunji Roberts, T.E., T.R.B. Davenport, K.B.P. Hildebrandt, T. Jones, W.T. Stanley, E.J. Sargis, and L.E. Olson (2010). The biogeography of introgression in the critically endangered African monkey Rungwecebus kipunji. Biology Letters 6(2): 233-237.
- Networks, trees, and treeshrews: Assessing support and identifying conflict with multiple loci and a problematic root Roberts, T.E., E.J. Sargis, and L.E. Olson (2009). Networks, trees, and treeshrews: Assessing support and identifying conflict with multiple loci and a problematic root. Systematic Biology 58: 257-270.
Presentations
- Roberts, T.E., E.J. Sargis, and L.E. Olson. June 2009. "Antique" DNA reveals broad geographic patterns in the Tupaia belangeri/Tupaia glis species complex. Evolution meeting, Moscow, ID.
- Roberts, T.E., E.J. Sargis, and L.E. Olson. June 2009. "Antique" DNA reveals broad geographic patterns in the Tupaia belangeri/Tupaia glis species complex. American Society of Mammalogists annual meeting, Fairbanks, AK.
- Invited research seminar, Smithsonian Zoology Department, May 2009. Disentangling treeshrew evolution and biogeography with "antique" DNA.
- Roberts, Trina E. When good models go bad: Sticky tips and misplaced roots in intraspecific phylogenies. NESCent BBL, June 2010.
- Roberts, Trina E. Sticky tips and misplaced roots: Are models leading us astray in intraspecific phylogenetics? Duke Systematics Discussion Group, April 2010.
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