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When Homoplasy Is Not Homoplasy: Dissecting Trait Evolution by Contrasting Composite and Reductive Coding
- Source :
- Systematic Biology. 67:543-551
- Publication Year :
- 2017
- Publisher :
- Oxford University Press (OUP), 2017.
-
Abstract
- The conceptualization and coding of characters is a difficult issue in phylogenetic systematics, no matter which inference method is used when reconstructing phylogenetic trees or if the characters are just mapped onto a specific tree. Complex characters are groups of features that can be divided into simpler hierarchical characters (reductive coding), although the implied hierarchical relational information may change depending on the type of coding (composite vs. reductive). Up to now, there is no common agreement to either code characters as complex or simple. Phylogeneticists have discussed which coding method is best but have not incorporated the heuristic process of reciprocal illumination to evaluate the coding. Composite coding allows to test whether 1) several characters were linked resulting in a structure described as a complex character or trait or 2) independently evolving characters resulted in the configuration incorrectly interpreted as a complex character. We propose that complex characters or character states should be decomposed iteratively into simpler characters when the original homology hypothesis is not corroborated by a phylogenetic analysis, and the character or character state is retrieved as homoplastic. We tested this approach using the case of fruit types within subfamily Cinchonoideae (Rubiaceae). The iterative reductive coding of characters associated with drupes allowed us to unthread fruit evolution within Cinchonoideae. Our results show that drupes and berries are not homologous. As a consequence, a more precise ontology for the Cinchonoideae drupes is required.
- Subjects :
- 0106 biological sciences
0301 basic medicine
Phylogenetic tree
Rubiaceae
Biology
Classification
Biological Evolution
Models, Biological
010603 evolutionary biology
01 natural sciences
03 medical and health sciences
Cinchonoideae
Tree (data structure)
Phenotype
030104 developmental biology
Character (mathematics)
Phylogenetics
Simple (abstract algebra)
Evolutionary biology
Genetics
Homology (anthropology)
Phylogeny
Ecology, Evolution, Behavior and Systematics
Coding (social sciences)
Subjects
Details
- ISSN :
- 1076836X and 10635157
- Volume :
- 67
- Database :
- OpenAIRE
- Journal :
- Systematic Biology
- Accession number :
- edsair.doi.dedup.....ab868d10cc22d33f51c71c03e9df79be