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Record W4415596175 · doi:10.1016/j.tpb.2025.10.003

Computing tree size under dynamical models of diversification

2025· article· en· W4415596175 on OpenAlexafffund
Ailene MacPherson, Matthew W. Pennell

Bibliographic record

VenueTheoretical Population Biology · 2025
Typearticle
Languageen
FieldEnvironmental Science
TopicEcology and Vegetation Dynamics Studies
Canadian institutionsSimon Fraser University
FundersNational Institute of General Medical SciencesNatural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of CanadaNational Institutes of Health
KeywordsInferenceTree (set theory)Phylogenetic treeDiversification (marketing strategy)Sampling (signal processing)Tree rearrangementVariety (cybernetics)Sampling bias

Abstract

fetched live from OpenAlex

A phylogenetic tree has three types of attributes: size, shape (topology), and branch density. Phylodynamic studies are often motivated by questions regarding the size of clades, nevertheless, nearly all of the inference methods only make use of the other two attributes. In this paper, we ask whether there is additional information if we consider tree size more explicitly in phylodynamic inference methods. To address this question, we first needed to be able to compute the expected tree size distribution under a specified phylodynamic model; perhaps surprisingly, there is not a general method for doing so - it is known what this is under a Yule or constant rate birth-death model but not for the more complicated scenarios researchers are often interested in. We present three different solutions to this problem: using (i) the deterministic limit; (ii) master equations; and (iii) an ensemble moment approximation. Using simulations, we evaluate the accuracy of these three approaches under a variety of scenarios and alternative measures of tree size (i.e., sampling through time or only at the present; sampling ancestors or not). We then use the most accurate measures for the situation, to investigate the added informational content of tree size. We find that for two critical phylodynamic questions - (i) is diversification diversity dependent? and, (ii) can we distinguish between alternative diversification scenarios? - knowing the expected tree size distribution under the specified scenario provides insights that could not be gleaned from considering the expected shape and branch density alone. The contribution of this paper is both a novel set of methods for computing tree size distributions and a path forward for richer phylodynamic inference into the evolutionary and epidemiological processes that shape lineage trees.

Fetched live from OpenAlex and de-inverted. Abstracts are not stored in this database: the inverted indexes are 8.6 GB of the frame’s 9.3 GB of text, and the host has 13 GB free.

How this classification was reachedexpand

Full frame machine prediction

Teacher imitation

Not calibrated prevalence, not ground truth. Human validation pending. The Gemma side is a direct model label for every work in the frame, read from the title-only record. The Codex side is a classifier learned from the 10,348 direct Codex labels and calibrated to design-weighted sample rates; fields without enough sample support carry no Codex call. Candidate is the union of the two sides; consensus is their intersection. These outputs are machine_predicted_unvalidated and are not human labels.

metaresearch head score (Codex)0.003
metaresearch head score (Gemma)0.022
Version: metacan-v3-hybrid-931329e0061cValidation status: machine_predicted_unvalidated
Candidate categoriesnone
Consensus categoriesnone
DomainCandidate signal: none · Consensus signal: none
Study designCandidate signal: Simulation or modeling · Consensus signal: Simulation or modeling
GenreCandidate signal: Empirical · Consensus signal: Empirical
Teacher disagreement score0.005
Threshold uncertainty score0.014

Distilled classifier scores by category (both heads)

CategoryCodexGemma
Metaresearch0.0030.022
Meta-epidemiology (narrow)0.0000.001
Meta-epidemiology (broad)0.0010.001
Bibliometrics0.0010.001
Science and technology studies0.0000.001
Scholarly communication0.0010.003
Open science0.0020.002
Research integrity0.0020.001
Insufficient payload (model declined to judge)0.0010.000

Machine scores (provisional)

The two teacher heads of the student model, read on this work. A score orders the frame for review; it never asserts a category, and the validation status ships verbatim with every row.

Baseline scores from an immature model (maturity gate not passed, 7 training rounds). Scores rank; they never assert a category.

Opus teacher head0.010
GPT teacher head0.266
Teacher spread0.255 · how far apart the two teachers sit on this one work
Validation statusscore_only:v0-immature-baseline · verbatim from the scoring run: score_only means the number may rank works, and no category label ships from it

Classification

machine, unvalidated

Machine predicted; a candidate call from one source (direct Gemma or distilled Codex), not a consensus.

The models applied no category: nothing in the taxonomy fit this work.
Study designSimulation or modeling
Domainnot available
GenreEmpirical

How this classification was reached, model by model and score by score, is at the end of the page under "How this classification was reached".

Quick stats

Citations1
Published2025
Admission routes2
Has abstractyes

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