E&E Seminar: “How much can we learn about the process of lineage diversification from molecular phylogenies?” by Matthew Pennell (University of Southern California)
April 9, 2024
12:30 PM - 1:30 PM
Location
SELE 4289
Calendar
Download iCal FilePlease join us on April 9, 2023 at 12:30 in SELE 4289 for an E&E Seminar featuring “How much can we learn about the process of lineage diversification from molecular phylogenies?” by Dr. Matthew Pennell (University of Southern California).
Host: Boris Igic
Abstract: Variation in lineage richness among clades, regions, and time periods ultimately reflects variation in the rates of speciation (in the case of macroevolution, and transmission in the case of viral evolution) and extinction. The branching pattern of phylogenetic trees is often the best source of evidence we have about these rates; over the last 30 years, countless studies have estimated lineage diversification rates using increasingly sophisticated approaches and correlated them with all sorts of biological variables. In this talk, I will address an emerging and fundamental challenge to this entire enterprise. First, I will discuss a previously hidden identifiability problem, which I will argue has been misleading inferences for decades -- and which is likely responsible for the suspiciously low estimates of extinction rates that are often reported in empirical macroevolutionary studies. I will then discuss how these results from macroevolution apply to epidemiological inferences made from viral phylogenies; I will argue that many conclusions from the emerging field of phylodynamics may not be as robust as they appear. I will conclude by discussing some solutions to these methodological challenges that my group is currently working on.
Date posted
Jun 20, 2023
Date updated
Apr 3, 2024