I would suggest the randomization test in Blomberg et al. (2003).  This will 
give a valid significance test of the null hypothesis of no phylogenetic 
signal.  By itself, it does not give a measure of the strength (or amount) of 
phylogenetic signal.  Not sure if it is implented in r.  If not, I can send our 
Matlab code.

Cheers,
Ted

Theodore Garland, Jr.
Professor
Department of Biology
University of California, Riverside
Riverside, CA 92521
Office Phone:  (951) 827-3524
Home Phone:  (951) 328-0820
Facsimile:  (951) 827-4286 = Dept. office (not confidential)
Email:  [email protected]
http://www.biology.ucr.edu/people/faculty/Garland.html

Experimental Evolution: Concepts, Methods, and Applications of Selection 
Experiments. 2009.
Edited by Theodore Garland, Jr. and Michael R. Rose
http://www.ucpress.edu/book.php?isbn=9780520261808
(PDFs of chapters are available from me or from the individual authors)

________________________________________
From: [email protected] [[email protected]] on 
behalf of Nina Hobbhahn [[email protected]]
Sent: Wednesday, April 25, 2012 1:55 AM
To: [email protected]
Subject: [R-sig-phylo] Normality requirement for assessment of lambda with      
phylosig (phytools) and fitContinuous (geiger)

Dear fellow list users,

I would like to assess the magnitude of phylogenetic signal in two sets of 
continuous data. Set 1 contains numerous zeros and is therefore non-normal. Set 
2 contains very little variation and is non-normal due to underdispersion. 
Given that both data sets are largely immune to transformations to normality, I 
am wondering whether the lambda estimates for untransformed data derived from 
phylosig and fitContinuous will be meaningful? If not, can you recommend 
transformations or other methods of phylogenetic-signal assessment that would 
be preferable?

Thank you very much,

Nina



Dr. Nina Hobbhahn
Post-doctoral fellow
Lab of Prof. S. D. Johnson
School of Life Sciences
University of KwaZulu-Natal
Private Bag X01
Scottsville, Pietermaritzburg, 3201
South Africa


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