Because trees are powerful in biology

Because trees are powerful in biology

• Because trees are powerful in biology

• They make predictions

• Pacific Yew produces taxol which treats some cancers, but it is expensive. Its nearest relative, the European Yew was also found to produce taxol.

• They tell us the order of events

• Which came first, classic geometric spider webs, or messy cobwebs?

• They tell us about..

• “Homelands”, where did it come from.
• “Dates” when did it happen.
• Rates of change
• Ancestral states

They tell us the order of events

• They tell us the order of events

• Which came first, classic geometric orb webs, or messy cobwebs?

Suppose you have a new distance measure A, and you want to claim it is better than the old method B

• Suppose you have a new distance measure A, and you want to claim it is better than the old method B

• You could run some classification experiments and report some numbers..

• A get 95% B gets 90%

• But this is not very forceful, and it does not tell you when you win/lose