A morphological phylogenetic analysis of the coral families Oculinidae and Meandrinidae suggest multiple transitions between colonial and solitary forms. Many morphological characters are logically dependent on a taxon being colonial. The treatment of not applicable characters has remained unresolved, with traditional treatments of not applicable characters having well known flaws. A new method for treating not applicable characters, the Not Applicable Corrected Tree Length (NACTL) method, is presented. The NACTL method retrieves a different phylogenetic signal than traditional approaches, but is more consistent with molecular phylogenetic analyses.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:uiowa.edu/oai:ir.uiowa.edu:etd-2520 |
| Date | 01 July 2011 |
| Creators | Fadiga, Troy Robert |
| Contributors | Budd, Ann F. |
| Publisher | University of Iowa |
| Source Sets | University of Iowa |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | thesis |
| Format | application/pdf |
| Source | Theses and Dissertations |
| Rights | Copyright 2011 Troy Robert Fadiga |
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