Fitting non-Gaussian diffusion models to evolutionary data: towards a generalized framework for phylogenetic comparative analyses.

该项目旨在为进化生物学开发尖端的统计方法，以便使用来自多个物种的数据来回答重大问题。这些方法是必要的，因为越来越多的物种数据是可用的，不能用目前的方法正确处理。这项研究意义重大，因为它将提供一种新的方法，在非常普遍的情况下，将广泛的统计模型拟合到进化数据中。此外，该项目将在一个更广泛的框架内统一当前的方法，以便提出的新方法是当前公认理论的概括。结果将包括一个以用户友好的形式实现这些方法的免费软件包。

This project aims to develop cutting-edge statistical methods for evolutionary biology in order to answer big questions using data derived from multiple species. Such methods are needed because of the variety of multi-species data that are becoming available, which cannot be dealt with correctly using current methods. The research is significant because it will provide a new way of fitting a wide class of statistical models to evolutionary data, in a very general setting. Further, this project will unite current methodology in a broader framework so that the proposed new methods are a generalisation of currently accepted theory. The outcomes will include a freely-available software package that implements the methods in a user-friendly form.