Extended Data Fig. 7: Ancestral-state reconstruction and statistical tests of a correlation between soaring flight and the SPD.
From: The respiratory system influences flight mechanics in soaring birds
a, The inferred evolutionary histories of soaring flight (left) and the SPD (right), with pie charts illustrating the posterior probability (PP) of a character-state transition for branches with probabilities >0.1. b, AIC values associated with Pagel’s18 test of discrete character correlation under four competing models. The best-fit model is one in which the evolution of the SPD depends on the presence of soaring flight and character transition rates are asymmetrical (ARD_dep); in order of decreasing fit, the remaining models include: dependent character evolution with symmetrical transition rates (SYM_dep); independent character evolution with symmetrical transition rates (SYM_dep); and independent character evolution with asymmetrical transition rates (ARD_indep). c, Posterior distribution of the value of the correlation coefficient (r) for Felsenstein’s19 implementation of the threshold model. The 95% highest posterior density (marked by red dashed lines) is well-removed from zero.
