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Figure 3 | BMC Evolutionary Biology

Figure 3

From: The origins of species richness in the Hymenoptera: insights from a family-level supertree

Figure 3

The method of Davies et al. (2004) explained. In Figure 3A taxa a and b have significantly different species richnesses (N). To detect the direction of the shift here we compare N a and N b to N of their nearest outgroup c. As N does not differ significantly between a and c, but does between b and c, we have detected a significant downshift in species richness associated with b. Figure 3B shows a more complicated scenario, where taxon c is made of two taxa d and e, which have significantly different species richnesses and they themselves need comparing to their outgroup (i.e. a + b). However, it is not possible to compare the values for N a , N b , N d or N e as they are relative outgroups to one another in which we have not been able to detect the direction of the significant shift. In such circumstances, the combined N of species rich taxa (for example a and d) are compared to N of the next outgroup f. The same goes for the species poor taxa (for example b and e). In this example it is N b + N e which is significantly different to N f and we have therefore detected significant downshifts in taxa b and e.

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