Figure 3

Effects of cross-bracing nodes on median age and variance. Pairwise regression analyses indicate that CC, CB, and XCB strategies do not affect inferred median ages of calibrated (A-C) or uncalibrated (D-F) nodes. (G, H) Compared to CC, CB and XCB analyses reduce 95% HPD intervals for calibrated nodes; less significant reduction in uncertainty is achieved by XCB compared to CB analysis (I). For uncalibrated nodes, CB does not achieve significant reduction in 95% HPD intervals compared to CC (J), but uncertainty decreases markedly for these nodes in XCB analyses (K-L). p values indicate results of F tests.