Publication Date
2020
Journal or Book Title
Microorganisms
Abstract
Recent studies suggested that network methods should supplant tree building as the basis of genealogical analysis. This proposition is based upon two arguments. First is the observation that bacterial and archaeal lineages experience processes oppositional to bifurcation and hence the representation of the evolutionary process in a tree like structure is illogical. Second is the argument tree building approaches are circular—you ask for a tree and you get one, which pins a verificationist label on tree building that, if correct, should be the end of phylogenetic analysis as we currently know it. In this review, we examine these questions and suggest that rumors of the death of the bacterial tree of life are exaggerated at best.
DOI
https://doi.org/10.3390/microorganisms8081179
Volume
8
Special Issue
Microbial Species Concepts from Theory to Application: A Convergence Study
Issue
8
License
UMass Amherst Open Access Policy
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
Recommended Citation
DeSalle, Rob and Riley, Margaret, "Should Networks Supplant Tree Building?" (2020). Microorganisms. 649.
https://doi.org/10.3390/microorganisms8081179