Testing the accuracy of TreeMap and Brooks parsimony analyses of coevolutionary patterns using artificial associations

Brooks parsimony analysis and TreeMap are the two most commonly used methods and are tested using artificially evolved host-parasite associations with varying amounts of coevolutionary events occurring between the two "phylogenies." The purpose is to test the precision with which each method recovers the true coevolutionary history. The reconstructions recovered by each method are compared against the original test case to determine how closely the reconstruction resembles the artificially created coevolutionary history. Brooks parsimony analysis is found to be consistently less prone to gross overestimation of coevolutionary events and misleading results. Brooks parsimony analysis performs better overall because it is more adept at dealing with host-switching events, both between and within lineages leading to widespread parasite taxa, which provides enough evidence for implementing Brooks parsimony analysis instead of TreeMap in coevolutionary studies. (C) 2002 The Willi Hennig Society. Published by Elsevier Science (USA). All rights reserved.