Combinatorics of k-Interval Cospeciation for Cophylogeny

TL;DR

This paper introduces k-interval cospeciation, a novel cophylogenetic distance metric that captures global congruence between trees, even when they are locally incongruent, and demonstrates its utility through analysis of simulated data.

Contribution

It presents the concept of k-interval cospeciation as a new metric for cophylogeny, highlighting its distinctness and practical usefulness.

Findings

k-interval cospeciation is a unique metric capturing global congruence.

The neighborhood growth indicates its effectiveness in analyzing simulated data.

It differentiates from other cophylogenetic metrics.

Abstract

We show that the cophylogenetic distance, k-interval cospeciation, is distinct from other metrics and accounts for global congruence between locally incongruent trees. The growth of the neighborhood of trees which satisfy the largest possible k-interval cospeciation with a given tree indicates that k-interval cospeciation is useful for analyzing simulated data.