Re: Cladistics algorithm?

[Marilyn Wegweiser <mdwegweiser@bsuvc.bsu.edu>]

> Can anyone supply the algorithm (or algorithms) that are used for
> cladistic analysis?

Use the program PAUP, or MacClade - I'm not sure of what others that 
people use.

> By way of further clarification or to confuse it even more (depending on
> how you view this), there are, apparently, a number of "black box"
> softwares that contain such an algorithm and into which aspiring
> cladists can pump very statistics to receive an analysis.  What goes on
> in that black box?

You have opened a can of worms. Those are gooey inverts that leave 
pretty squish marks in the Vendian time, and in Mazon Creek material. 
I am leaving the building......

Slainte'
Marilyn W.
--
                                =00=  =00=  =00=  =00=
                                Marilyn D. Wegweiser, Ph.D.
                                Adjunct Curator of Vertebrate Paleontology
                                Cincinnati Natural History Museum

                                Assistant Professor of Geology
                                Department of Geology
                                Ball State University
                                Muncie, Indiana
                                mdwegweiser@bsu.edu
                                Office: 765-285-8268; 765-285-8270
                                FAX:    765-285-8265