Now that scientists can sequences genes with relative ease, the relationships among living organisms are becoming better known. Those relationships are summarized as phylogenetic trees. This book reveals how those trees can be used to give insights into diverse fields of biological enquiry including ecology, epidemiology, development, conservation, and the evolutionary process itself.
Recent advances in molecular genetics make the sequencing of genes a straightforward exercise. Comparisons of sequenced genes from different individuals of a species, or from different species, allow the construction of family trees or evolutionary trees which reveal genetic relationships. This volume shows for the first time how those trees, or phylogenies, can be used to answer questions about population dynamics, epidemiology, development, biodiversity, conservation, and the evolution of genetic systems. The techniques for deciding what these new trees can tell us come together in a unified framework so that a common set of methods can be applied, whatever area of biology interests the researcher.
this volume comprises the most diverse collection of phylogenetic applications ever assembled in one place ... anyone who has followed the growth of phylogenetics' impact on evolutionary biology will be interested in the diversity of perspectives presented here. The papers in this volume collectively give the distinct impression that a rich discipline is approaching a turning point.
