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Treemap Versus BPA (Again): A Response to Dowling
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  • Published: 18 September 2007

Treemap Versus BPA (Again): A Response to Dowling

  • Roderic Page1 &
  • Michael Charleston2 

Nature Precedings (2007)Cite this article

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Abstract

TreeMap is a computer program for analysing host-parasite cospeciation. We respond to Dowling’s (Cladistics, 18: 416-435) recent comparison of TreeMap and Brooks Parsimony Analysis (BPA) by showing that Dowling’s comparison suffers from several mistakes and flaws. We discuss the problems with both BPA and TreeMap, and show that BPA incorrectly counts the true number coevolutionary events more often than TreeMap 1. We also discuss the two main limitations of TreeMap 1 correctly identified by Dowling, namely its inability to handle widespread parasites, and its coarse optimality criterion (the number of cospeciation events). We suggest a simple fix for widespread parasites. The newly released TreeMap 2 uses a more sensitive optimality criterion than TreeMap 1, addressing Dowling’s second concern.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. DEEB, IBLS, University of Glasgow https://www.nature.com/nature

    Roderic Page

  2. School of IT, University of Sydney https://www.nature.com/nature

    Michael Charleston

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  1. Roderic Page
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  2. Michael Charleston
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Correspondence to Roderic Page.

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Cite this article

Page, R., Charleston, M. Treemap Versus BPA (Again): A Response to Dowling. Nat Prec (2007). https://doi.org/10.1038/npre.2007.1030.1

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  • Received: 18 September 2007

  • Accepted: 18 September 2007

  • Published: 18 September 2007

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/npre.2007.1030.1

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Keywords

  • treemap
  • cospeciation
  • algorithm
  • phylogeny
  • cophylogeny
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