The Laplace Motion in Phylogenetic Comparative Methods

TL;DR

This paper explores the potential of the Laplace motion process as an alternative to traditional homogeneous models in phylogenetic comparative methods, through preliminary numerical experiments.

Contribution

It introduces the Laplace motion as a novel approach for modeling evolutionary processes in phylogenetics, addressing limitations of existing methods.

Findings

Laplace motion can model heterogeneous evolutionary processes.

Preliminary experiments suggest potential advantages over traditional models.

Further research is needed to validate effectiveness.

Abstract

The majority of current phylogenetic comparative methods assume that the stochastic evolutionary process is homogeneous over the phylogeny or offer relaxations of this in rather limited and usually parameter expensive ways. Here we make a preliminary investigation, by means of a numerical experiment, whether the Laplace motion process can offer an alternative approach.