Unit name | Phylogenetics Methods & Research |
---|---|
Unit code | EASC30069 |
Credit points | 20 |
Level of study | H/6 |
Teaching block(s) |
Teaching Block 1 (weeks 1 - 12) |
Unit director | Professor. Pisani |
Open unit status | Not open |
Pre-requisites |
N/A |
Co-requisites |
N/A |
School/department | School of Earth Sciences |
Faculty | Faculty of Science |
The unit aims to introduce students to:
In the first five weeks of the unit students will gain a general understanding of modern methods in macroevolutionary analysis through a series of lectures covering Phylogenetic reconstruction, Inference of divergence time and the Comparative method. Practicals in these weeks will include how to use supercomputers (using a UNIX/LINUX shell interface) and how to use an array of standard software for data analysis (e.g. PAUP MrBayes Phylobayes).
In week five students will meet with the Unit Director to agree a research topic.
From the sixth week students will undertake an independent research project using publicly available data from Morphobank or Genebank, grounded on the practical and theoretical knowledge they accumulated in lectures and practicals. Students will independently research the agreed topic, obtain relevant publicly available data, and complete a series of appropriate analyses to test specific evolutionary hypotheses, as previously agreed with the Unit Director.
At a second supervisory meeting (drop in session) in week 8 students will present a bulleted point document describing the project write-up plan. Completion of the project will culminate in a report of the project results in the style of a short scientific paper at the end of the unit (submission in week 10).
Students will:
5 weeks of lectures and practicals, plus an independent research period.
Coursework (100%)
Coursework comprises a written report of the 5 week project undertaken (2500 words; one figure with panels allowed)
Essential:
Independent reading of the broad literature to select a topic for the project is essential.
Further Reading: