Overcoming problems with the use of ratios as continuous characters for phylogenetic analyses

Autores
Mongiardino Koch, Nicolás; Soto, Ignacio Maria; Ramirez, Martin Javier
Año de publicación
2015
Idioma
inglés
Tipo de recurso
artículo
Estado
versión publicada
Descripción
The use of quantitative morphometric information for phylogenetic inference has been an intensely debated topic for most of the history of phylogenetic systematics. Despite several drawbacks, the most common strategy to include this sort of data into phylogenetic studies is the use of ratios, that is quotients between morphometric variables. Here, we discuss one particular problem associated with such methodology: the fact that the often arbitrary election of which variable serves as numerator and which as denominator affects the phylogenetic outcome of the analysis. We describe the cause for such an effect, and study its implications with the use of several published data matrices. Alternative coding schemes for ratio characters result in very different phylogenetic hypotheses, an effect that may even be strong enough to affect studies that combine continuous and discrete morphological information. Some of the resulting incongruence is produced by the differences in magnitude of the continuous characters involved, although different rescaling techniques are shown to decrease, but not eliminate, the confounding effect. To eliminate such problematic effect, ratios should be either log‐transformed before their use or replaced by more effective ways to capture morphometric information.
Fil: Mongiardino Koch, Nicolás. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Oficina de Coordinación Administrativa Ciudad Universitaria. Instituto de Ecología, Genética y Evolución de Buenos Aires. Universidad de Buenos Aires. Facultad de Ciencias Exactas y Naturales. Instituto de Ecología, Genética y Evolución de Buenos Aires; Argentina
Fil: Soto, Ignacio Maria. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Oficina de Coordinación Administrativa Ciudad Universitaria. Instituto de Ecología, Genética y Evolución de Buenos Aires. Universidad de Buenos Aires. Facultad de Ciencias Exactas y Naturales. Instituto de Ecología, Genética y Evolución de Buenos Aires; Argentina
Fil: Ramirez, Martin Javier. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Oficina de Coordinación Administrativa Parque Centenario. Museo Argentino de Ciencias Naturales "Bernardino Rivadavia"; Argentina
Materia
Phylogenetics
Continuous Characters
Ratios
Nivel de accesibilidad
acceso abierto
Condiciones de uso
https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/2.5/ar/
Repositorio
CONICET Digital (CONICET)
Institución
Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas
OAI Identificador
oai:ri.conicet.gov.ar:11336/42697

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spelling Overcoming problems with the use of ratios as continuous characters for phylogenetic analysesMongiardino Koch, NicolásSoto, Ignacio MariaRamirez, Martin JavierPhylogeneticsContinuous CharactersRatioshttps://purl.org/becyt/ford/1.6https://purl.org/becyt/ford/1The use of quantitative morphometric information for phylogenetic inference has been an intensely debated topic for most of the history of phylogenetic systematics. Despite several drawbacks, the most common strategy to include this sort of data into phylogenetic studies is the use of ratios, that is quotients between morphometric variables. Here, we discuss one particular problem associated with such methodology: the fact that the often arbitrary election of which variable serves as numerator and which as denominator affects the phylogenetic outcome of the analysis. We describe the cause for such an effect, and study its implications with the use of several published data matrices. Alternative coding schemes for ratio characters result in very different phylogenetic hypotheses, an effect that may even be strong enough to affect studies that combine continuous and discrete morphological information. Some of the resulting incongruence is produced by the differences in magnitude of the continuous characters involved, although different rescaling techniques are shown to decrease, but not eliminate, the confounding effect. To eliminate such problematic effect, ratios should be either log‐transformed before their use or replaced by more effective ways to capture morphometric information.Fil: Mongiardino Koch, Nicolás. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Oficina de Coordinación Administrativa Ciudad Universitaria. Instituto de Ecología, Genética y Evolución de Buenos Aires. Universidad de Buenos Aires. Facultad de Ciencias Exactas y Naturales. Instituto de Ecología, Genética y Evolución de Buenos Aires; ArgentinaFil: Soto, Ignacio Maria. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Oficina de Coordinación Administrativa Ciudad Universitaria. Instituto de Ecología, Genética y Evolución de Buenos Aires. Universidad de Buenos Aires. Facultad de Ciencias Exactas y Naturales. Instituto de Ecología, Genética y Evolución de Buenos Aires; ArgentinaFil: Ramirez, Martin Javier. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Oficina de Coordinación Administrativa Parque Centenario. Museo Argentino de Ciencias Naturales "Bernardino Rivadavia"; ArgentinaWiley Blackwell Publishing, Inc2015-09info:eu-repo/semantics/articleinfo:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersionhttp://purl.org/coar/resource_type/c_6501info:ar-repo/semantics/articuloapplication/pdfapplication/pdfhttp://hdl.handle.net/11336/42697Mongiardino Koch, Nicolás; Soto, Ignacio Maria; Ramirez, Martin Javier; Overcoming problems with the use of ratios as continuous characters for phylogenetic analyses; Wiley Blackwell Publishing, Inc; Zoologica Scripta; 44; 5; 9-2015; 463-4740300-3256CONICET DigitalCONICETenginfo:eu-repo/semantics/altIdentifier/doi/10.1111/zsc.12120info:eu-repo/semantics/altIdentifier/url/https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1111/zsc.12120info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccesshttps://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/2.5/ar/reponame:CONICET Digital (CONICET)instname:Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas2025-09-03T10:09:41Zoai:ri.conicet.gov.ar:11336/42697instacron:CONICETInstitucionalhttp://ri.conicet.gov.ar/Organismo científico-tecnológicoNo correspondehttp://ri.conicet.gov.ar/oai/requestdasensio@conicet.gov.ar; lcarlino@conicet.gov.arArgentinaNo correspondeNo correspondeNo correspondeopendoar:34982025-09-03 10:09:41.738CONICET Digital (CONICET) - Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicasfalse
dc.title.none.fl_str_mv Overcoming problems with the use of ratios as continuous characters for phylogenetic analyses
title Overcoming problems with the use of ratios as continuous characters for phylogenetic analyses
spellingShingle Overcoming problems with the use of ratios as continuous characters for phylogenetic analyses
Mongiardino Koch, Nicolás
Phylogenetics
Continuous Characters
Ratios
title_short Overcoming problems with the use of ratios as continuous characters for phylogenetic analyses
title_full Overcoming problems with the use of ratios as continuous characters for phylogenetic analyses
title_fullStr Overcoming problems with the use of ratios as continuous characters for phylogenetic analyses
title_full_unstemmed Overcoming problems with the use of ratios as continuous characters for phylogenetic analyses
title_sort Overcoming problems with the use of ratios as continuous characters for phylogenetic analyses
dc.creator.none.fl_str_mv Mongiardino Koch, Nicolás
Soto, Ignacio Maria
Ramirez, Martin Javier
author Mongiardino Koch, Nicolás
author_facet Mongiardino Koch, Nicolás
Soto, Ignacio Maria
Ramirez, Martin Javier
author_role author
author2 Soto, Ignacio Maria
Ramirez, Martin Javier
author2_role author
author
dc.subject.none.fl_str_mv Phylogenetics
Continuous Characters
Ratios
topic Phylogenetics
Continuous Characters
Ratios
purl_subject.fl_str_mv https://purl.org/becyt/ford/1.6
https://purl.org/becyt/ford/1
dc.description.none.fl_txt_mv The use of quantitative morphometric information for phylogenetic inference has been an intensely debated topic for most of the history of phylogenetic systematics. Despite several drawbacks, the most common strategy to include this sort of data into phylogenetic studies is the use of ratios, that is quotients between morphometric variables. Here, we discuss one particular problem associated with such methodology: the fact that the often arbitrary election of which variable serves as numerator and which as denominator affects the phylogenetic outcome of the analysis. We describe the cause for such an effect, and study its implications with the use of several published data matrices. Alternative coding schemes for ratio characters result in very different phylogenetic hypotheses, an effect that may even be strong enough to affect studies that combine continuous and discrete morphological information. Some of the resulting incongruence is produced by the differences in magnitude of the continuous characters involved, although different rescaling techniques are shown to decrease, but not eliminate, the confounding effect. To eliminate such problematic effect, ratios should be either log‐transformed before their use or replaced by more effective ways to capture morphometric information.
Fil: Mongiardino Koch, Nicolás. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Oficina de Coordinación Administrativa Ciudad Universitaria. Instituto de Ecología, Genética y Evolución de Buenos Aires. Universidad de Buenos Aires. Facultad de Ciencias Exactas y Naturales. Instituto de Ecología, Genética y Evolución de Buenos Aires; Argentina
Fil: Soto, Ignacio Maria. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Oficina de Coordinación Administrativa Ciudad Universitaria. Instituto de Ecología, Genética y Evolución de Buenos Aires. Universidad de Buenos Aires. Facultad de Ciencias Exactas y Naturales. Instituto de Ecología, Genética y Evolución de Buenos Aires; Argentina
Fil: Ramirez, Martin Javier. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Oficina de Coordinación Administrativa Parque Centenario. Museo Argentino de Ciencias Naturales "Bernardino Rivadavia"; Argentina
description The use of quantitative morphometric information for phylogenetic inference has been an intensely debated topic for most of the history of phylogenetic systematics. Despite several drawbacks, the most common strategy to include this sort of data into phylogenetic studies is the use of ratios, that is quotients between morphometric variables. Here, we discuss one particular problem associated with such methodology: the fact that the often arbitrary election of which variable serves as numerator and which as denominator affects the phylogenetic outcome of the analysis. We describe the cause for such an effect, and study its implications with the use of several published data matrices. Alternative coding schemes for ratio characters result in very different phylogenetic hypotheses, an effect that may even be strong enough to affect studies that combine continuous and discrete morphological information. Some of the resulting incongruence is produced by the differences in magnitude of the continuous characters involved, although different rescaling techniques are shown to decrease, but not eliminate, the confounding effect. To eliminate such problematic effect, ratios should be either log‐transformed before their use or replaced by more effective ways to capture morphometric information.
publishDate 2015
dc.date.none.fl_str_mv 2015-09
dc.type.none.fl_str_mv info:eu-repo/semantics/article
info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersion
http://purl.org/coar/resource_type/c_6501
info:ar-repo/semantics/articulo
format article
status_str publishedVersion
dc.identifier.none.fl_str_mv http://hdl.handle.net/11336/42697
Mongiardino Koch, Nicolás; Soto, Ignacio Maria; Ramirez, Martin Javier; Overcoming problems with the use of ratios as continuous characters for phylogenetic analyses; Wiley Blackwell Publishing, Inc; Zoologica Scripta; 44; 5; 9-2015; 463-474
0300-3256
CONICET Digital
CONICET
url http://hdl.handle.net/11336/42697
identifier_str_mv Mongiardino Koch, Nicolás; Soto, Ignacio Maria; Ramirez, Martin Javier; Overcoming problems with the use of ratios as continuous characters for phylogenetic analyses; Wiley Blackwell Publishing, Inc; Zoologica Scripta; 44; 5; 9-2015; 463-474
0300-3256
CONICET Digital
CONICET
dc.language.none.fl_str_mv eng
language eng
dc.relation.none.fl_str_mv info:eu-repo/semantics/altIdentifier/doi/10.1111/zsc.12120
info:eu-repo/semantics/altIdentifier/url/https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1111/zsc.12120
dc.rights.none.fl_str_mv info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess
https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/2.5/ar/
eu_rights_str_mv openAccess
rights_invalid_str_mv https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/2.5/ar/
dc.format.none.fl_str_mv application/pdf
application/pdf
dc.publisher.none.fl_str_mv Wiley Blackwell Publishing, Inc
publisher.none.fl_str_mv Wiley Blackwell Publishing, Inc
dc.source.none.fl_str_mv reponame:CONICET Digital (CONICET)
instname:Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas
reponame_str CONICET Digital (CONICET)
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instname_str Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas
repository.name.fl_str_mv CONICET Digital (CONICET) - Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas
repository.mail.fl_str_mv dasensio@conicet.gov.ar; lcarlino@conicet.gov.ar
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