General Area Cladogram Research Articles

Methods in Vicariance Biogeography: Assessment of the Implementations of Assumptions 0, 1, and 2.

As we have argued previously, for the valid derivation of general area cladograms in vicariance biogeography, two requirements should be met. First, sets of area cladograms derived under assumptions 0, 1 and 2 should be inclusive (requirement I). Second, general area cladograms should be based on area cladograms, for different monophyletic groups, derived under the same assumption (requirement II). We now assess for their actual implementation of assumptions A0, A1, and A2 and for the extent to which they meet requirements I and II, the following methods (and correlated computer programs): Component Compatibility Analysis (CAFCA), Brooks Parsimony Analysis (PAUP), Component Analysis (Component 1.5), Reconciled Tree Analysis (Component 2.0), and Three Area Statement Analysis (TAS). For this purpose we use empirical (Heterandria, Xiphophorus, Cyttaria, Eriococcus/Madarococcus) and theoretical data sets. All programs appear to violate, to a different degree, requirement I (deriving inclusive sets of area cladograms under assumptions) when dealing with sympatric taxa under A1 or A2. Dealing with sympatric taxa a posteriori only prevents this violation. All programs examined appear to meet requirement II (deriving general area cladograms under a single assumption).

Evidence for reticulate palaeogeography: beetle diversity linked to connection‐disjunction cycles of the Gibraltar strait

AbstractAim Dispersal barriers between areas within some regions have appeared and disappeared throughout evolutionary time. Here we describe the distributional patterns displayed by three taxa living in such kind of regions. These patterns can be better explained considering a reticulated rather than a hierarchically branched palaeogeography.Location Western Mediterranean.Methods The taxa studied are Misolampus (Coleoptera, Tenebrionidae), Tentyria (Coleoptera, Tenebrionidae) and Thorectes (Coleoptera, Geotrupidae). All them are flightless and show a high degree of endemicity. The individual pattern of area relationships was determined separately for each genus by Brooks Parsimony Analysis (BPA). A theoretical general area cladogram was constructed based on the palaeogeographical history of the region. Finally, the general area cladogram is reconciled with the individual ones.Results The ancestor of Misolampus probably was North African. Land dispersal toward the Iberian Peninsula is proposed. Speciation within Iberia is related to specific vicariance events, and the presence of insular (Balearic Islands) populations is explained by sea‐surface or, more probably, human‐mediated dispersal. The ancestor of Tentyria was Iberic. The proposed hypothesis to explain the current species distribution mainly relies on the occurrence of specific vicariance events. However, the occurrence of some sea‐surface dispersal event is not discarded. Almost all possible vicariance events can be recognized in the first clade of the Thorectes genus. There is evidence for dispersal between Africa and Europe at different dates and in both directions. In spite of some uncertainties, the appearance of the second Thorectes clade can also be explained by the occurrence of specific historical events. An ancient dispersal toward the eastern Mediterranean and several dispersal events during the Messinian seem likely.Main conclusions The same historical events have specific outcomes in every tree (even in every branch within a tree) depending on the ability for dispersal and speciation of each taxon. Connection‐disjunction cycles of dispersal barriers have acted as diversity producers.

The jumping plant-lice (Hemiptera, Psylloidea) associated with Schinus (Anacardiaceae): systematics, biogeography and host plant relationships

The gall-forming psylloid fauna associated with the temperate Neotropical plant genus Schinus (Anacardiaceae) is revised, and keys are provided for adults, larvae and galls. Fourteen species are recognized in the genus Calophya (Calophyidae), 10 of which are described as new; C. gallifex and C. schini are reinstated from former synonymy with C. rubra. An additional closely related new species, C. clavuligera sp. n., is described from Lithrea spp. In the genus Tainarys (Psyllidae, Rhinocolinae), six species are recognized and, for five of these, Schinus species are confirmed hosts. Two of them are described as new and one is recombined from Leurolophus. A new Leurolophus species is described from Lithrea molleoides. Based on a cladistic analysis Pelmatobrachia, Microceropsylla and Neocalophya are synonymized with Calophya, producing five new and one revised species combinations as well as one nomen nov. A list of the 59 currently recognized species is provided with information on synonymy, distribution and host plants. The cladistic analyses suggest that the Schinus inhabiting calophyids form two monophyletic groups, the C. rubra and C. hermicitae groups, respectively. A discriminant analysis of 15 variables for both males and females provides morphometric characters for separating the morphologically very homogenous adults of the C. rubra group. The phylogenetic relationships of the Rhinocolinae are re-evaluated, and the genera Tainarys and Leurolophus are redefined. Notophyllura is transferred from the Euphyllurinae to the Rhinocolinae. Tainarys forms the sister group of Leurolophus + Notophyllura. Based on mapped distributions four areas of endemism (distribution) are defined: A (Eastern temperate South America), B (Central and Southern Chile, including adjacent parts of Argentina), C (Central Argentina) and D (Peru, Far Northern Chile, and Eastern Bolivia). Cladistic biogeographical analyses with TAS, COMPONENT and an algorithm by Enghoff yielded the general area cladogram (A +(C +(B +D))); the one calculated with BPA differed in the position of D: (D +(A +(B +C))). The reconstruction of vicariant events using a protocol by Hovenkamp, corroborates the former general area cladogram, which is compared to competing hypotheses. The history of dispersal and vicariance events is reconstructed with the programme DIVA. Evidence for cospeciation of Schinus with its associated psylloids is evaluated with COMPONENT and TREE MAP. The likelihood for cospeciation is high in the Calophya hermicitae group, but low in the Calophya rubra group and in Tainarys. The gall shape depends partly from the psylloid, partly from the Schinus phylogeny.

Cladistic biogeography of the Mexican transition zone

AbstractBiogeographic relationships among nine montane areas of endemism across the transition zone between North and South America are analysed cladistically based on phylogenetic hypotheses of thirty‐three resident monophyletic taxa of insects, fish, reptiles, and plants.Areas of endemism include the Arizona mountains (AZ), Sonoran Desert (SD), Sierra Madre Occidental (OCC), southern Sierra Madre Occidental (SOC), Sierra Madre Oriental (ORI), Sierra Transvolcanica (TRAN), Sierra Madre del Sur (SUR), Chiapan‐Guatemalan Highlands (CGH), and Talamancan Cordillera (TC).Area relationships are summarized using Brooks Parsimony Analysis and Assumption 0, with the former resulting in more defensible biogeographic hypotheses.Areas of endemism are dividable into two monophyletic groups; a northern group including AZ, SD, OCC, and ORI, and a southern group consisting of TC, CGH, TRAN, SUR, and the isolated southern regions of the Sierra Madre Occidental (SOC).The northern set of areas are characterized by recent, probably Pleistocene, isolation and prevalent widespread species, whereas the southerly areas probably diverged after Pliocene closure of the Panamanian isthmus.The southern areas are redundantly represented on many of the taxon‐area cladograms by endemic species, indicative of much higher levels of endemism in the Sierra Transvolcanica and further south.Use of a general area cladogram in such a transition zone permits explicit exploration of biogeographic patterns and establishes a predictive framework for taxonomy and conservation prioritization.

Two Requirements for Obtaining Valid Common Patterns under Different Assumptions in Vicariance Biogeography

In vicariance biogeography, widespread or sympatric taxa can be dealt with under assumptions 0, 1, and 2. Data from cladogenetic relationships among taxa of a monophyletic group and their distribution over areas are assumed, in the order 0 → 1 → 2, to represent decreasing information about vicariance events. A less strict assumption carries a larger solution set, i.e., the number of possible area cladograms increases with the decrease in strictness of the assumption applied. We formulate two requirements for obtaining valid general area cladograms from data of several monophyletic groups of taxa. First, the assumptions, and with them the sets of area cladograms derived under these assumptions, should be inclusive. Second, sets of single group area cladograms should be compared for different monophyletic groups under a single assumption. When these two requirements are met, area cladograms become consistent with respect to the processes (vicariance, extinction, and dispersal) that are a priori assumed. The explanatory power increases for any particular monophyletic group of taxa when the set of valid general area cladograms contains a subset of area cladograms derived under a more strict assumption. We discuss examples from literature of how violation of these two requirements affects the results.

Two Requirements for Obtaining Valid Common Patterns under Different Assumptions in Vicariance Biogeography.

In vicariance biogeography, widespread or sympatric taxa can be dealt with under assumptions 0, 1, and 2. Data from cladogenetic relationships among taxa of a monophyletic group and their distribution over areas are assumed, in the order 0 → 1 → 2, to represent decreasing information about vicariance events. A less strict assumption carries a larger solution set, i.e., the number of possible area cladograms increases with the decrease in strictness of the assumption applied. We formulate two requirements for obtaining valid general area cladograms from data of several monophyletic groups of taxa. First, the assumptions, and with them the sets of area cladograms derived under these assumptions, should be inclusive. Second, sets of single group area cladograms should be compared for different monophyletic groups under a single assumption. When these two requirements are met, area cladograms become consistent with respect to the processes (vicariance, extinction, and dispersal) that are a priori assumed. The explanatory power increases for any particular monophyletic group of taxa when the set of valid general area cladograms contains a subset of area cladograms derived under a more strict assumption. We discuss examples from literature of how violation of these two requirements affects the results.

In search of historical biogeographic patterns in the western Mediterranean terrestrial fauna

A cladistic biogeographic study of the western Mediterranean terrestrial fauna is made using taxon-area cladograms of ten groups of animals showing high levels of endemicity in the area. The groups analysed are the Nephrotoma flavescens group, the Tipula (Acutipula) maxima group, the T. (Lunatipula) bullata and falcata group, the subgenus T. (Mediotipula), the T. (Savtshenkia) goriziensis group, the T. (S) signata group (Insecta, Diptera, Tipulidae), the Protonemura corsicana group (Insecta, Plecoptera, Nemouridae), the genus Speonemadus (Insecta, Coleoptera, Cholevidae), and the subgenera Triturus (Palaeotriton) and Triturus (Triturus) (Urodela, Salamandridae). The groups contain a total of 123 species and subspecies. Detailed distribution maps of 94 species and subspecies of Tipulidae included in the study are given. Based on the distributions of 74 endemic species and subspecies, 13 areas of endemism in the Mediterranean are recognized. The geology of the western Mediterranean since the late Oligocene is discussed with reference to a number of maps showing kinematic reconstructions of the area. Five methods for cladistic biogeographic purposes were employed, viz. Brooks Parsimony Analysis, Component Compatibility Analysis, Component Analysis, Three-Area Statements Analysis, and Paralogy-free Subtree Analysis. General area cladograms produced by computer implementations of the five methods show low levels of congruence. Geological area cladograms are fully compatible with some of the results of Brooks Parsimony Analysis only.

In search of historical biogeographic patterns in the western Mediterranean terrestrial fauna

A cladistic biogeographic study of the western Mediterranean terrestrial fauna is made using taxon-area cladograms of ten groups of animals showing high levels of endemicity in the area. The groups analysed are theNephrotoma flavescensgroup, theTipula(Acutipula)maximagroup, theT. (Lunatipula)bullataandfalcatagroup, the subgenusT. (Mediotipula), theT. (Savtshenkia)goriziensisgroup, theT. (S.)signatagroup (Insecta, Diptera, Tipulidae), theProtonemura corsicanagroup (Insecta, Plecoptera, Nemouridae), the genusSpeonemadus(Insecta, Coleoptera, Cholevidae), and the subgeneraTriturus(Palaeotriton) andTriturus(Triturus) (Urodela, Salamandridae). The groups contain a total of 123 species and subspecies. Detailed distribution maps of 94 species and subspecies of Tipulidae included in the study are given. Based on the distributions of 74 endemic species and subspecies, 13 areas of endemism in the Mediterranean are recognized. The geology of the western Mediterranean since the late Oligocene is discussed with reference to a number of maps showing kinematic reconstructions of the area. Five methods for cladistic biogeographic purposes were employed, viz. Brooks Parsimony Analysis, Component Compatibility Analysis, Component Analysis, Three-Area Statements Analysis, and Paralogy-free Subtree Analysis. General area cladograms produced by computer implementations of the five methods show low levels of congruence. Geological area cladograms are fully compatible with some of the results of Brooks Parsimony Analysis only.

Biogeography after Burbidge

The contributions of Nancy Burbidge and Leon Croizat to an understanding of Australian phytogeography are summarised and compared. The focus of systematics on relationship and nodes of cladograms is outlined as the basis of modern cladistic biogeography. It is argued that development of explicit analytical methods for the discovery of general area cladograms has been hindered by lack of recognition of geographic paralogy—evidenced by duplication or overlap in geographic distribution of taxa related at a node in a cladogram. A new method, subtree analysis, which recognises and eliminates paralagous nodes, and often inconsistencies, is illustrated with examples from the Australian flora. General patterns are congruent with conclusions of Burbidge and Croizat. Paper Presented as the 1996 Nancy Burbridge Memorial Lecture.

Marine Area Relationships from Twenty Sponge Phylogenies. A Comparison of Methods and Coding Strategies.

Published phylogenies of 20 marine sponge groups are used to build general area cladograms of marine areas of endemism under three different methods for which algorithms adapted for personal computers are available, viz. COMPONENT, BPA and TAS, and two different coding strategies, Assumption 0 (A0) and "no assumption" (NA). The latter is a recently proposed procedure for handling the distributions of widespread taxa by treating these as separate areas of endemism, rather than as suites of smaller constituent areas. The 20 phylogenies contained large numbers of problem data which prevented an exhaustive search for all possible equally "best" general area cladograms. The Nelson consensus trees and their equivalents in parsimony analysis for all six attempts (viz. three different methodologies under two different coding strategies) were compared using their fit with the 20 sponge phylogenies as a measure of quality. Fit was determined using the number of "cospeciations" between a general area cladogram and a taxon area cladogram computed with TreeMap 1.0. No single method or coding strategy yielded a clearly better fit, each cladogram fitting variously better or worse with various phylogenies. In general, fit with NA coding was higher than with A0 coding, but random tree tests failed to generate statistically significant support for the conclusion that NA coding improves fit. Assuming that available sponge phylogenies are representative of marine benthic groups, software and hardware limitations are serious obstacles to a successful development of marine general area cladograms under any method or coding strategy.

Marine Area Relationships from Twenty Sponge Phylogenies. A Comparison of Methods and Coding Strategies

Published phylogenies of 20 marine sponge groups are used to build general area cladograms of marine areas of endemism under three different methods for which algorithms adapted for personal computers are available, viz. COMPONENT, BPA and TAS, and two different coding strategies, Assumption 0 (A0) and “no assumption” (NA). The latter is a recently proposed procedure for handling the distributions of widespread taxa by treating these as separate areas of endemism, rather than as suites of smaller constituent areas. The 20 phylogenies contained large numbers of problem data which prevented an exhaustive search for all possible equally “best” general area cladograms. The Nelson consensus trees and their equivalents in parsimony analysis for all six attempts (viz. three different methodologies under two different coding strategies) were compared using their fit with the 20 sponge phylogenies as a measure of quality. Fit was determined using the number of “cospeciations” between a general area cladogram and a taxon area cladogram computed with TreeMap 1.0. No single method or coding strategy yielded a clearly better fit, each cladogram fitting variously better or worse with various phylogenies. In general, fit with NA coding was higher than with A0 coding, but random tree tests failed to generate statistically significant support for the conclusion that NA coding improves fit. Assuming that available sponge phylogenies are representative of marine benthic groups, software and hardware limitations are serious obstacles to a successful development of marine general area cladograms under any method or coding strategy.

Biogeographic patterns and the evolution of eureptantic nemerteans

The origin and evolution of the eureptantic nemerteans is discussed from a biogeographic point of view. It is most likely that East Indian Ocean was part of the ancestral distribution of the Eureptantia. The area cladogram estimated by Brooks parsimony analysis (BPA) is to a high degree congruent with a vicariance explanation of the evolution of the Eureptantia and suggests an ancestral distribution concordant with the Tethys Sea. A general area cladogram based on a combined BPA analysis of eureptantic nemerteans and acanthuroid fishes is reconstructed and suggested as a hypothesis of the relationships between east Indian Ocean, west Indian Ocean, west Pacific Ocean, east Atlantic Ocean, west Atlantic Ocean, and the Mediterranean. This tree is compared with cladograms from the same areas based on other taxa.

Molecular Phylogenetics and Biogeography of Tanagers in the GenusRamphocelus(Aves)

Ramphocelustanagers are distributed throughout the Neotropical lowlands. In this paper, mitochrondrial DNA (mtDNA) sequence data from cytochrome b and ND2 genes are used to estimate relationships among seven of nine species of the avian genusRamphocelus.Genetic differentiation is high betweenRamphocelus passerinii passeriniiandRamphocelus passerinii costaricensis,and the two subspecies are diagnosable and distinct from one another both morphologically and genetically. Thus, elevation to species status is recommended. Three clades are supported by both gene sequences; one clade containsR. passerinii, R. costaricensis,andR. icteronotus;the second clade containsRamphocelus carbo, Ramphocelus bresilius,andRamphocelus nigrogularis;the third clade containsRamphocelus sanguinolentus.The degree of saturation was assessed for both genes and saturation of third position of codons occurs by 10–12% uncorrected pairwise sequence divergence. The general area cladogram suggests the following area relationships: Pacific and Caribbean Central America are sister areas, Choco is the sister to the Central American area, and Amazonia/southeastern Brazil is the outgroup area to the Choco/Central American clade.

Cladistic Biogeography of Plants in Australia and New Guinea: Congruent Pattern Reveals Two Endemic Tropical Tracks

?Although congruence among multiple taxa is accepted as the basis of the cladistic approach to biogeography, seldom has congruence been tested for patterns within continents. Moreover, contiguous land areas are subject to confounding factors that might lead to incongru? ence, and areas of endemism are difficult to define. Most previous studies have analyzed single taxa and therefore could not test for congruence. Here, we report the first cladistic biogeographic analysis of multiple plant taxa (ll angiosperm groups) within continental Australasia. We have used Page's (1994, Syst. Biol. 43:58-77) new mapping method implemented in his program COM? PONENT 2.0, minimizing the optimality criterion leaves added, which is the number of terminal branches that need to be added to reconcile all input cladograms with the general area cladogram. A randomization test showed significant congruence, and a jackknife test indicated which parts of the general area pattern are robust. Conflicting patterns shown by widespread species may have been influenced by recant range expansions. At least two independent histories are postu? lated for taxa endemic to the tropics. One appears as a close relationship between the monsoon tropical areas, including southern New Guinea, and the other is a track (a group of areas with a common history) of successive differentiation along the east and south coasts. The Australian wet tropics (the Atherton area), although geographically proximate to the monsoon tropics, are part of the east coast track. Tasmania shows a very early vicariance from the rest of the continent, and the central arid areas appear related to adjacent coastal areas rather than to each other (contra Cracraft, 1991, Aust. Syst. Bot. 4:211-227). The postulated exchange of taxa with southeast Asia following late Miocene contact was not tested because of a lack of suitable taxon cladograms. [Cladistic biogeography; congruence; tree mapping; Australia; New Guinea; angiosperms; trop? ics.1 Congruence is the essence of cladistic biogeography. If general area patterns ex? ist, reflecting a common history among multiple, distantly related taxa, then at? tempts to reconstruct that history are jus? tified. However, congruence cannot be as? sumed a priori; different taxa may respond differently to earth events, depending upon their varying vagility or response to the appearance of barriers to dispersal. A bar? rier to one species may be a suitable hab? itat for another. For example, black soil plains would be a barrier to both the plant genus Persoonia and the bird genus Platycercus, whereas calcareous plains support? ing forest would be a barrier only to Per? soonia. Thus, a vicariance event for one taxon may not be a vicariance event for an4 E-mail: mike.crisp@anu.edu.au. other, depending upon their differing eco? logical tolerances. Neither can congruence be expected for areas having multiple his? tories involving different taxa. Even if con? gruence is demonstrated, no single causal explanation, e.g., vicariance, can be as? sumed (Page, 1988). Nonetheless, congruent patterns have been demonstrated among taxa occurring on different continents, at least in the southern hemisphere (Brundin, 1965; Ro? sen, 1978; Edmunds, 1981; Humphries and Parenti, 1986; Weston and Crisp, 1994; Un? der and Crisp, 1996), and these patterns have usually been explained by the plate tectonic theory of the breakup of the supercontinent Gondwana during the last 160 million years, causing vicariance of widespread ancestral species. However, con? gruence at this level is sometimes viewed as trivial; the present continents are sepa-

HISTORICAL BIOGEOGRAPHY: Introduction to Methods

The five basic historical biogeographic methods are: dispersalism, phyloge­ netic biogeography, panbiogeography, cladistic biogeography, and parsimony analysis of endemicity. Dispersalism derives from the traditional concepts of center of origin and dispersal. Bremer's recent cladistic implementation of dispersalism estimates the relative probability that different areas were part of the ancestral distribution of a group. Phylogenetic biogeography applies the rules of progression and deviation to elucidate the history of the geographical distribution ofa group. Panbiogeography consists of plotting distributions of different taxa on maps, connecting their distribution areas together with lines called individual tracks, and looking for coincidence among individual tracks to determine generalized tracks. Generalized tracks indicate the preexistence of widespread ancestral biotas, subsequently fragmented by geological or climatic changes. Cladistic biogeography assumes a correspondence between taxonomic relationships and area relationships, where comparisons between area cladograms derived from different taxa allow one to obtain general area cladograms. The most important cladistic biogeographic procedures are: com­ ponent analysis, Brooks parsimony analysis, three-area statements, and recon­ ciled trees. Parsimony analysis of endemicity (PAE) classifies areas by their shared taxa, analogous to characters, according to the most parsimonious solution. We think the various methods are not mutually-exclusive alternatives, but some of them can· be integrated in a single biogeographic approach, with the capability of resolving different problems, such as the recognition of spatial

NOTHOFAGUS AND PACIFIC BIOGEOGRAPHY.

- Gondwanan biogeography, particularly the relationships between southern South America, New Zealand, Australia, New Guinea and New Caledonia, has been much studied. Nothofagus is often used as the "test taxon", and many papers have been directed at using Nothofagus to explain Gondwanan biogeography. Cladistic biogeographers, working on plant material, have generally failed to find congruence among taxa expected from the southern Pacific disjunctions. New morphological and molecular data on the phytogeny of Nothofagus have re-opened the issue, and we analysed these data to construct a new hypothesis of the biogeography of the genus. We assembled all plant taxa for which we could find reasonably robust phylogenetic hypotheses, and sought a parsimonious biogeographical pattern common to all. Two analyses, based on different assumptions, produced the same general areacladogram. We use the general area-cladogram, in conjunction with the fossil record of Nothofagus to construct a historical scenario for the evolution of the genus. This scenario indicates extensive extinction, but also suggests that Australia has a more recent relationship to New Zealand than to southern South America. This is not congruent with the current geological theories, nor with the patterns evident from insect biogeography. We suggest that concordant dispersal is an unlikely explanation for this pattern, and propose that the solution might be found in alternative geological hypotheses.

On the Identification of Areas of Endemism

Methodological developments in cladis? tic biogeography have mostly focused on converting taxon-area cladograms into area cladograms and on obtaining general area cladograms (Nelson and Platnick, 1981; Wiley, 1988; Page, 1990; Nelson and Ladiges, 1991). The problem of identifying areas of endemism, although fundamental for any cladistic biogeographic study, has been somewhat neglected. An area of endemism is an area of non?

BIOGEOGRAPHIC PATTERNS OF MONTANE MEXICAN AND CENTRAL AMERICAN CARABIDAE (COLEOPTERA)

AbstractCarabid taxa inhabiting the montane forests of México and Central America are analyzed using cladistic biogeographic methods. Taxa exhibiting the Nearctic, Meso-American Montane, and Paleo-American distributional patterns are included in the analysis. Widespread taxa are assumed to indicate that the areas of endemism they inhabit are closely related, and the general pattern of area relationships is determined using parsimony analysis. Of the nine areas of endemism recognized in the analysis, the Sierra Madre Oriental is considered the most distinct. The northern Sierra Madre Occidental, Arizona Mountains, and Sonoran Desert comprise one monophyletic set of areas, as do the more southerly areas of the Sierra Transvolcanica, Sierra Madre del Sur, Chiapan–Guatemalan highlands, and Talamancan Cordillera. The southern Sierra Madre Occidental area of endemism is equivocally related to both areas to the north and areas to the south. Biogeographic information derived from widespread species is as congruent with the general area cladogram as information derived from groups with precinctive species, indicating that the same biogeographic barriers often limit distributions of both widespread species and more inclusive clades comprising precinctive species. Taxa exhibiting the Meso-American Montane Pattern are more congruent with the general area cladogram than those representing the Nearctic Pattern, even though they exhibit less fidelity to highland habitats.

In Search of a Method for Cladistic Biogeography: An Empirical Comparison of Component Analysis, Brooks Parsimony Analysis, and Three-area Statements

Abstract—Three quantitative cladistic biogeographic methods, namely, component analysis, Brooks parsimony analysis (BPA), and three-area statements (TAS) have been proposed for obtaining general area cladograms from taxon-area cladograms. Available programs implementing these methods include COMPONENT versions 1.5 and 2.0 for component analysis, TAS for three-area statements, and Hennig86 for analysing matrices for both three-area statements and BPA. Ten different data sets were analysed with these programs and items of error were used to evaluate the general area cladograms obtained. None of the computer implementations of the methods compared proved to be more effective than the others."…all methodologies, even the most obvious ones, have their limits…"Feyerabend (1993:231)

IN SEARCH OF A METHOD FOR CLADISTIC BIOGEOGRAPHY: AN EMPIRICAL COMPARISON OF COMPONENT ANALYSIS, BROOKS PARSIMONY ANALYSIS, AND THREE‐AREA STATEMENTS

Abstract— Three quantitative cladistic biogeographic methods, namely, component analysis, Brooks parsimony analysis (BPA), and three‐area statements (TAS) have been proposed for obtaining general area cladograms from taxon‐area cladograms. Available programs implementing these methods include COMPONENT versions 1.5 and 2.0 for component analysis, TAS for three‐area statements, and Hennig86 for analysing matrices for both three‐area statements and BPA. Ten different data sets were analysed with these programs and items of error were used to evaluate the general area cladograms obtained. None of the computer implementations of the methods compared proved to be more effective than the others."…all methodologies, even the most obvious ones, have their limits…"Feyerabend (1993:231)