The Influence of Model Violation on Phylogenetic Inference: A Simulation Study

Abstract

AbstractPhylogenetic inference typically assumes that the data has evolved under Stationary, Reversible and Homogeneous (SRH) conditions. Many empirical and simulation studies have shown that assuming SRH conditions can lead to significant errors in phylogenetic inference when the data violates these assumptions. Yet, many simulation studies focused on extreme non-SRH conditions that represent worst-case scenarios and not the average empirical dataset. In this study, we simulate datasets under various degrees of non-SRH conditions using empirically derived parameters to mimic real data and examine the effects of incorrectly assuming SRH conditions on inferring phylogenies. Our results show that maximum likelihood inference is generally quite robust to a wide range of SRH model violations but is inaccurate under extreme convergent evolution.