Basic Phylogenetic Combinatorics

by Andreas Dress, Katharina T. Huber, Jacobus Koolen, Vincent Moulton, Andreas Spillner

Overview

Phylogenetic combinatorics is a branch of discrete applied mathematics concerned with the combinatorial description and analysis of phylogenetic trees and related mathematical structures such as phylogenetic networks and tight spans. Based on a natural conceptual framework, the book focuses on the interrelationship between the principal options for encoding phylogenetic trees: split systems, quartet systems and metrics. Such encodings provide useful options for analyzing and manipulating phylogenetic trees and networks, and are at the basis of much of phylogenetic data processing. This book highlights how each one provides a unique perspective for viewing and perceiving the combinatorial structure of a phylogenetic tree and is, simultaneously, a rich source for combinatorial analysis and theory building. Graduate students and researchers in mathematics and computer science will enjoy exploring this fascinating new area and learn how mathematics may be used to help solve topical problems arising in evolutionary biology.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780521768320
Publisher:	Cambridge University Press
Publication date:	12/15/2011
Pages:	276
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 9.10(h) x 0.80(d)

About the Author

Andreas Dress is a Professor Emeritus in the Mathematics Department at the University of Bielefeld, Germany.

Katharina T. Huber is a Lecturer in the School of Computing Sciences at the University of East Anglia, UK.

Jacobus Koolen is an Associate Professor in the Department of Mathematics at Pohang University of Science and Technology (POSTECH), South Korea.

Vincent Moulton is a Professor in the School of Computing Sciences at the University of East Anglia, UK.

Andreas Spillner is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Mathematics and Computer Science at the University of Greifswald, Germany.

Table of Contents

1. Preliminaries; 2. Encoding X-trees; 3. Consistency of X-tree encodings; 4. From split systems to networks; 5. From metrics to networks; 6. From quartet and tree systems to trees; 7. From metrics to split systems and back; 8. Maps to and from quartet systems; 9. Rooted trees and the Farris transform; 10. On measuring and removing inconsistencies.

Editorial Reviews

"This book concerns the combinatorial description of phylogenetic trees and related structures such as phylogenetic networked and tight spans. The book presents a system approach which includes both classical and new results."
Stephen J. Willson, Mathematical Reviews

From the Publisher