Inferring Phylogenies

A textbook for a graduate course for biologists interested in using numerical methods to analyze evolutionary trees. It assumes some familiarity with statistics, computers, and mathematics including calculus and elementary matrix algebra. Annotation (c) Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)

Joe Felsenstein is Professor in the Department of Genome Sciences at the University of Washington, Seattle, where he has taught for more than thirty years. He earned a B.S. (Honors) in Zoology from the University of Wisconsin, Madison, and a Ph.D. in Zoology from the University of Chicago. Dr. Felsenstein is the author of the widely used PHYLIP package of programs for inferring phylogenies. He served as President of the Society for the Study of Evolution in 1993 and has received numerous awards, including: election to membership in the American Academy of Arts and Sciences (1992); the Sewall Wright Award, American Society of Naturalists (1993; election to membership in the National Academy of Sciences (1999); and the Weldon Memorial Prize, Oxford University (2000). His work has ranged from theoretical evolutionary genetics to statistical methods for inferring phylogenies. His current research interests include the development of coalescent-based Markov Chain Monte Carlo methods of computing likelihoods for models of evolution within species, and development of statistical methods for inferences about quantitative characters within and between species.