This book serves as a brief introduction to phylogenetic trees and molecular evolution for biologists and biology students. It does so by presenting the main concepts in a variety of ways: first visually, then in a history, next in a dice game, and finally in simple equations.
The content is primarily designed to introduce upper-level undergraduate and graduate students of biology to phylogenetic tree reconstruction and the underlying models of molecular evolution. A unique feature also of interest to experienced researchers is the emphasis on simple ways to quantify the uncertainty in the results more fully than is possible with standard methods.
Introduction to phylogenetic trees.- A divergence time story: the rise
and fall of the molecular clock.- Estimating phylogenetic trees.- Estimating
divergence times.- Estimating common ancestors.- Testing theories of
molecular evolution.- Recommendations for further reading.- Appendix A:
Intermittent point processes.- Appendix B: Poisson processes with Lévy-stable
substitution rates.
Methods and models of David R. Bickel have been published in Molecular Biology and Evolution and other journals specialized in molecular evolution and phylogenetics. He teaches an interactive course on the topic as an Associate Professor at the University of North Carolina at Greensboro.
