Whether you are looking for an introduction to the field of tree balance, a reference work on the multitude of available balance indices or inspiration for your future research, this book offers all three. It delves into the significance of tree balance in phylogenetics and other research domains, where numerous indices have been introduced over the years. While the variations in definitions and underlying principles among these indices have long remained a challenge, this survey addresses the problem by presenting formal definitions of balance and imbalance indices and establishing desirable properties.  The book is comprehensive both in the inclusion of a variety of indices and in the information provided on them: the authors meticulously analyze and categorize established indices, shedding light on their general, statistical and combinatorial properties. They reveal that, while some known balance indices fail to meet the most basic criteria, certain tree shape statistics from other contexts prove to be effective balance measures. The collected properties are neatly presented, numerous new results are established, open research questions are highlighted, and possible applications are discussed. Reviewing over twenty (im)balance indices, a wealth of mathematical insights is provided, accompanied by real-world examples showcasing the importance of tree balance in diverse research areas. Catering to researchers, students, mathematicians, and biologists, the book can be used as a textbook for university seminars, a reference on tree balance, and as a source of inspiration for future research. It is accompanied by the free R package 'treebalance', a powerful tool to further explore and apply the discussed concepts, and a website allowing quick access to the main information and the latest developments in the field.

Phylogenetic (evolutionary) trees and networks are widely used throughout evolutionary biology, epidemiology, and ecology to infer the historical relationships between species through inherited characteristics. Semple and Steel discuss the mathematics that underlies the reconstruction and analysis of these phylogenetic trees.

Evolution is a complex process, acting at multiple scales, from DNA sequences and proteins to populations of species. Understanding and reconstructing evolution is of major importance in numerous subfields of biology. For example, phylogenetics and sequence evolution is central to comparative genomics, attempts to decipher genomes, and molecular epidemiology. Phylogenetics is also the focal point of large-scale international biodiversity assessment initiatives such as the 'Tree of Life' project, which aims to build the evolutionary tree for all extant species.
Since the pioneering work in phylogenetics in the 1960s, models have become increasingly sophisticated to account for the inherent complexity of evolution. They rely heavily on mathematics and aim at modelling and analyzing biological phenomena such as horizontal gene transfer, heterogeneity of mutation, and speciation and extinction processes. This book presents these recent models, their biological relevance, their mathematical basis, their properties, and the algorithms to infer them from data. A number of subfields from mathematics and computer science are involved: combinatorics, graph theory, stringology, probabilistic and Markov models, information theory, statistical inference, Monte Carlo methods, continuous and discrete algorithmics.
This book arises from the Mathematics of Evolution & Phylogenetics meeting at the Mathematical Institute Henri Poincare, Paris, in June 2005 and is based on the outstanding state-of-the-art reports presented by the conference speakers. Ten chapters - based around five themes - provide a detailed overview of key topics, from the underlying concepts to the latest results, some ofwhich are at the forefront of current research.