Spaces of phylogenetic diversity indices: combinatorial and geometric properties

Abstract

AbstractBiodiversity is a concept most naturally quantified and measured across sets of species. However, for some applications, such as prioritising species for conservation efforts, a species-by-species approach is desirable. Phylogenetic diversity indices are functions that apportion the total biodiversity value of a set of species across its constituent members. As such, they aim to measure each species’ individual contribution to, and embodiment of, the diversity present in that set. However, no clear definition exists that encompasses the diversity indices in current use. This paper presents conditions that define diversity indices arising from the phylogenetic diversity measure on rooted phylogenetic trees. In this context, the diversity index ‘score’ given to a species represents a measure of its unique and shared evolutionary history as displayed in the underlying phylogenetic tree. Our definition generalises the diversity index notion beyond the popular Fair Proportion and Equal-Splits indices. These particular indices may now be seen as two points in a convex space of possible diversity indices, for which the boundary conditions are determined by the underlying shape of each phylogenetic tree. We calculated the dimension of the convex space associated with each tree shape and described the extremal points.