Phylogenetic comparative approaches are powerful analytical tools for making evolutionary inferences from interspecific data and phylogenies. The phylogenetic toolkit available to evolutionary biologists is currently growing at an incredible speed, but most methodological papers are published in the specialized statistical literature and many are incomprehensible for the user community. This textbook provides an overview of several newly developed phylogenetic comparative methods that allow to investigate a broad array of questions on how phenotypic characters evolve along the branches of phylogeny and how such mechanisms shape complex animal communities and interspecific interactions. The individual chapters were written by the leading experts in the field and using a language that is accessible for practicing evolutionary biologists. The authors carefully explain the philosophy behind different methodologies and provide pointers - mostly using a dynamically developing online interface - on how these methods can be implemented in practice. These "conceptual" and "practical" materials are essential for expanding the qualification of both students and scientists, but also offer a valuable resource for educators.
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From the book reviews:
"Phylogenetics is the study of evolutionary relationships among species or groups of species. ... phylogenetic comparative method refers to analyses in a historical framework that compares data across such groups of species controlling for relatedness. Authors in this textbookreference work for scholars and students introduce and explain the mostly statistical methods for undertaking these comparisons. ... A website provides data sets and guides to analyzing them with the approaches discussed in some chapters. Summing Up: Recommended. Graduate students through researchers/faculty." (E. Delson, Choice, Vol. 52 (6), February, 2015)
"Phylogenetics is the study of evolutionary relationships among species or groups of species. ... phylogenetic comparative method refers to analyses in a historical framework that compares data across such groups of species controlling for relatedness. Authors in this textbookreference work for scholars and students introduce and explain the mostly statistical methods for undertaking these comparisons. ... A website provides data sets and guides to analyzing them with the approaches discussed in some chapters. Summing Up: Recommended. Graduate students through researchers/faculty." (E. Delson, Choice, Vol. 52 (6), February, 2015)