APPROXIMATE BAYESIAN COMPUTATION FOR TRAIT EVOLUTION ON PHYLOGENIES (Invited Presentation)

Phylogenetic models are often limited to those that are mathematically tractable. Here I describe an approximate Bayesian computation (ABC) approach to allow more flexible models to be fitted by simulating up a tree. This approach allows incorporation of interspecific interactions and processes that are heterogeneous in time, such as different processes of trait evolution after a mass extinction. While originally developed for coeval organisms only, the approach is extended to deal with phylogenies including extinct taxa.