The comparative approach in evolutionary biology involves looking
for correlations in characters between different members of a taxon.
Using each species as an independent data point for statistical purposes
is not valid, since species are often not independent because of a
shared evolutionary history.
The Comparative Method in Evolutionary
Biology discusses several ways of using phylogenetic trees to separate
the different components of the variation, thus allowing the use of
simple statistical methods. Different methods are given for coping
with discrete character variables, continuous character variables,
and allometric relations.
Prerequisites: basic statistics and basic biology.
July 1992
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