Length Difference Test Research Articles

Radiation of members of the Soroseris hookeriana complex (Asteraceae) on the Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau and their proposed taxonomic treatment

The existence of intermediate types is a major obstacle that can hinder the circumscription of species. Elucidating the mechanism responsible for intermediate types is essential for achieving a reasonable taxonomical treatment. In this study, we explored the evolutionary history and taxonomic treatment of the Soroserishookeriana (C.B.Clarke) Stebbins complex, which comprises six named taxa that may be taxonomically distinct and are all native to the Qingha-Tibetan Plateau (QTP). We made an investigation across the distribution range of Soroseris Stebbins and sampled 27 populations, mostly from the complex. Internal transcribed spacer (ITS) and two chloroplast loci were sequenced and analysed using the neighbour-joining and Bayesian inference methods. The resulting phylogenies show no well supported inconsistence in topologies, in line with the lack of incongruence detected by the length difference test. However, all the trees were largely unresolved within S.hookeriana complex, irrespective of the optimality criterion employed. We interpret these results as an experience of radiation, which is a common process for native genera on the QTP. Thus, we suggest that all of the morphotypes might be different forms, generated by incipient speciation due to recent explosive differentiation, possibly triggered by the drastic environmental changes of the QTP. Given their evolutionary history, we propose a pragmatic method for treating all of these species as subspecies with a total of four new combinations.

MILD: a tool for constructing and analyzing matrices of pairwise phylogenetic character incongruence tests

Pairwise comparisons of disagreement in phylogenetic datasets offer a powerful tool for isolating historical incongruence for closer analysis. Statistically significant phylogenetic character incongruence may reflect important differences in evolutionary history, such as horizontal gene transfer. Such testing can also be used to specify possible combinations of datasets for further phylogenetic analysis. The process of comparing multiple datasets can be very time consuming, and it is sometimes unclear how to combine data partitions given the observed patterns of incongruence. Here we present an application that automates the process of making pairwise comparisons between large numbers of phylogenetic datasets using the Incongruence Length Difference (ILD) test. The application also implements strategies for data combination based on the patterns of incongruence observed in pairwise comparisons.