We study the problem of maximizing a monotone submodular function with
viability constraints. This problem originates from computational biology,
where we are given a phylogenetic tree over a set of species and a directed
graph, the so-called food web, encoding viability constraints between these
species. These food webs usually have constant {depth}. The goal is to select a
subset of $k$ species that satisfies the viability constraints and has maximal
phylogenetic diversity. As this problem is known to be NP-hard, we investigate
approximation algorithms. We present the first constant factor approximation
algorithm if the depth is constant. Its approximation ratio is
$(1-\frac{1}{\sqrt{e}})$. This algorithm not only applies to phylogenetic trees
with viability constraints but for arbitrary monotone submodular set functions
with viability constraints. Second, we show that there is no
$(1-1/e+\epsilon)$-approximation algorithm for our problem setting (even for
additive functions) and that there is no approximation algorithm for a slight
extension of this setting.Comment: in Algorithmica (2015