SNM > Uddannelse > Kurser > Phylogenetic

Phylogenetic Systematics and Molecular Dating

January 2011

The aim of the course is to teach Ph.D. students the theory and methodology of phylogenetic systematics, alignment, and molecular dating. The following subjects will be covered:

Phylogenetic theory
Characters and character coding
Tree building techniques
Tree statistics and tree support
Character tracing and character manipulation
Character weighting
Partitioned versus combined analysis
Bayesian inference
Maximum Likelihood
Alignment
Molecular Dating

Various tree building programs (e.g., MrBayes, POY, and TNT), programs for manipulating data and trees (e.g., MacClade and Mesquite) will be demonstrated and used. Lectures will alternate with practical exercises.

The course is preferentially for Ph.D. students; hence, biological knowledge corresponding to a M.Sc. is normally required. Admission to the course is highly competitive and approximately 18 students are admitted from a large group of applicants.

Prior knowledge of phylogenetics corresponding to e.g., Schuh, T. and Brower, A.V.Z. 2009. Biological Systematics. Principles and Applications. 2^nd Ed. (Cornell University Press), is essential. Recommended reading: Kitching, I. J. et al. 1998. Cladistics. The Theory and Practice of Parsimony Analysis. 2^nd Ed. (Oxford Science Publications).

There is a tuition fee of 4,000 DKK (525 €), for Ph.D.-students not matriculated at a Danish University.

Duration

Two weeks

Date

17-28 January 2011

Deadline for applications

8 November 2010

Please note: EDIT (European Distributed Institute of Taxonomy) has awarded 4 grants of 525.00 EUR each to students not matriculated at Danish universities to meet the costs of attending the course. These are available to participants from both from Europe and outside Europe.

If you want to be considered for one of these grants, please write a short separate application to Nikolaj Scharff or Ole Seberg (see contact details below).

Location

Department of Biology, Universitetsparken 15, DK - 2100 Copenhagen Ø (see map)

Evaluation

Evaluation will be on the basis of active participation and successful completion. 7.5 ECTS.

Teachers

Johan Nylander, Department of Botany, Stockholm University, Stockholm, Sweden
Niklas Wahlberg Department of Biology, University of Turku, Finland
Gitte Petersen, Ole Seberg, Nikolaj Scharff, Dimitar Dimitrov and Thomas Pape from the Natural History Museum of Denmark, University of Copenhagen.

Accomodation

Must be arranged on an individual basis, see www.visitcopenhagen.dk

Contact persons

Ole Seberg, Natural History Museum of Denmark, Sølvgade 83 S,
DK-1307 Copenhagen K
Fax: +45 35 32 21 55. E-mail: oles@snm.ku.dk
and
Nikolaj Scharff, Natural History Museum of Denmark, DK-2100 Copenhagen Ø
Fax: +45 35 32 10 10. E-mail: nscharff@snm.ku.dk
where further information may also be obtained.