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Parsimony in Systematics: Biological and Statistical Issues

Parsimony in Systematics: Biological and Statistical Issues Quite recently "parsimony" has become the favored method for inferring phylogenies (evolutionary trees). The accompanying article by Elliott Sober discusses the philosophical issues relating to the status of parsimony from a somewhat different perspective than that adopted here. This review will discuss parsimony, its origins, its major variants, and its biological assumptions. For a review of a wider range of methods of inferring phylogenies, the reader may wish to consult Felsenstein (22). The present discussion does not cover the use of parsimony criteria as measures of how simply information is represented in a classification. Methods of classification and methods of inferring phylogeny are of course separate issues and only the latter are discussed here. What Is Parsimony? Parsimony is a method of inferring phylogenies (evolutionary trees) by finding that phylogeny on which the observed characters could have evolved with the least evolutionary change. How evolutionary change is measured depends on the particular variant of parsimony employed and on the type of data. Perhaps the simplest case is Wagner parsimony (6,31). In its simplest form, the data are assumed to consist of a series of all-or-none characters, coded into one of two discrete states---O and I-and measured in each http://www.deepdyve.com/assets/images/DeepDyve-Logo-lg.png Annual Review of Ecology, Evolution, and Systematics Annual Reviews

Parsimony in Systematics: Biological and Statistical Issues

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References (30)

Publisher
Annual Reviews
Copyright
Copyright 1983 Annual Reviews. All rights reserved
Subject
Review Articles
ISSN
0066-4162
DOI
10.1146/annurev.es.14.110183.001525
Publisher site
See Article on Publisher Site

Abstract

Quite recently "parsimony" has become the favored method for inferring phylogenies (evolutionary trees). The accompanying article by Elliott Sober discusses the philosophical issues relating to the status of parsimony from a somewhat different perspective than that adopted here. This review will discuss parsimony, its origins, its major variants, and its biological assumptions. For a review of a wider range of methods of inferring phylogenies, the reader may wish to consult Felsenstein (22). The present discussion does not cover the use of parsimony criteria as measures of how simply information is represented in a classification. Methods of classification and methods of inferring phylogeny are of course separate issues and only the latter are discussed here. What Is Parsimony? Parsimony is a method of inferring phylogenies (evolutionary trees) by finding that phylogeny on which the observed characters could have evolved with the least evolutionary change. How evolutionary change is measured depends on the particular variant of parsimony employed and on the type of data. Perhaps the simplest case is Wagner parsimony (6,31). In its simplest form, the data are assumed to consist of a series of all-or-none characters, coded into one of two discrete states---O and I-and measured in each

Journal

Annual Review of Ecology, Evolution, and Systematics – Annual Reviews

Published: Nov 1, 1983

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