[Taxacom] Course 2007 - Phylogenetic Systematics and Alignment

Wed Oct 4 16:37:24 CDT 2006

Course in PHYLOGENETIC SYSTEMATICS AND ALIGNMENT

Copenhagen, Denmark, March 5-16, 2007 	 

The aim of the course is to teach Ph.D. students the theory and methodology of phylogenetic systematics and alignment. 
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	 
*	 Alignment

Various tree building programs (e.g., MrBayes, POY, PAUP*, 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. 2000. Biological Systematics. Principles and Applications (Cornell University Press), is essential. Recommended reading: Kitching, I. J. et al. 1998. Cladistics. The Theory and Practice of Parsimony Analysis. 2. Ed. (Oxford Science Publications).

There is a tuition fee of 3,750 D.Kr. (500 Euro), for Ph.D.-students not matriculated at a Danish University.

DURATION: Two weeks

DATES: Monday, March 5, 2007 - Friday, March 16, 2007

DEADLINE FOR APPLICATIONS: December 22, 2006

LOCATION: Institute of Biology, Department of Evolutionary Biology, Gothersgade 140, DK-1123 Copenhagen K., Denmark.

EVALUATION: Evaluation will be on the basis of active participation, successful completion and presentation of student projects provided. 10 ECTS.

TEACHERS: Jakob Damgaard, Thomas Pape, Gitte Petersen, Nikolaj Scharff, and Ole Seberg from the Natural History Museum of Denmark, University of Copenhagen.

GUEST TEACHER: Ward Wheeler, American Museum of Natural History, New York, USA.

ACCOMODATION: Must be arranged on an individual basis, see www.visitcopenhagen.dk <http://www.visitcopenhagen.dk/show.asp?id=1> 

APPLICATION: Please use our online application form <http://www.bi.ku.dk/coursedocs/phylo/application.asp> .

CONTACT PERSONS: Ole Seberg, Natural History Museum of Denmark, Sølvgade 83 S, DK-1307 Copenhagen.
Fax: +45 35 32 21 55. E-mail: oles at snm.ku.dk
and 
Nikolaj Scharff, Zoological Museum, Natural History Museum of Denmark, DK-2100 Copenhagen.
Fax: +45 35 32 10 10. E-mail: nscharff at snm.ku.dk

where further information may also be obtained (also visit our webpage at http://www.bi.ku.dk/coursedocs/phylo/index.asp)