PastView

PastView reconstructs evolutionary scenarios by integrating phylogenetic trees with extrinsic traits to compute ancestral character states for analyses in phylogeography, epidemiology, and ecology.

Key Features:

• Ancestral character state inference: Computes ancestral character states from phylogenetic trees combined with extrinsic traits.
• Transition maps and visualization: Generates transition maps and provides numerical and graphical representations of evolutionary pathways.
• Comparative analysis: Implements comparative methods to assess agreements or discrepancies between different ancestral annotation inference techniques.
• Successive-transition extraction: Extracts evolutionary scenarios by tracing successive transitions from the tree root to its leaves.
• Handling complex data: Manages diverse tree topologies and extrinsic trait associations and addresses combinatorial ambiguity of ancestral states.

Scientific Applications:

• Phylogeography: Understanding the geographic distribution of species and their historical lineage movements.
• Epidemiology: Tracing the evolution and spread of pathogens.
• Ecology: Investigating evolutionary relationships among organisms within ecosystems.

Methodology:

Combines phylogenetic trees with extrinsic traits to compute ancestral character states, employs diverse optimization criteria for tree computation, generates transition maps, and applies comparative methods to assess agreement between ancestral annotation inference techniques.