Phylogenetic comparative methods

PCMs can generally be divided into two types of approaches: those that infer the evolutionary history of some character (phenotypic or genetic) across a phylogeny and those that infer the process of evolutionary branching itself (diversification rates), though there are some approaches that do both simultaneously. Typically the tree that is used in conjunction with PCMs has been estimated independently (see computational phylogenetics) such that both the relationships between lineages and the length of branches separating them is assumed to be known. Phylogenetic comparative approaches can complement other ways of studying adaptation, such as studying natural populations, experimental studies, and mathematical models. Making interspecific comparisons allow researchers to assess the generality of evolutionary phenomena by considering independent evolutionary events. Such an approach is particularly useful when there is little or no variation within species. And because they can be used to explicitly model evolutionary processes occurring over very long time periods, they can provide insight into macroevolutionary questions, once the exclusive domain of paleontology.