Phylogenetic effective sample size

Abstract

In this paper I address the question - how large is a phylogenetic sample I propose a definition of a phylogenetic effective sample size for Brownian motion and Ornstein-Uhlenbeck processes - the regression effective sample size. I discuss how mutual information can be used to define an effective sample size in the non-normal process case and compare these two definitions to an already present concept of effective sample size (the mean effective sample size). Through a simulation study I find that the AICc is robust if one corrects for the number of species or effective number of species. Lastly I discuss how the concept of the phylogenetic effective sample size can be useful for biodiversity quantification, identification of interesting clades and deciding on the importance of phylogenetic correlations.