Taming the Tree of Life: Phylogenetic Comparative Methods-from Concept to Practical Application

Catalog description

"Nothing in biology makes sense except in the light of evolution" -- Dobzhansky Biologists have long been fascinated by the diversity of life. Why are there so many species? Why are some of them similar and others divergent? How has evolution shaped ecological interactions, such as disease-host dynamics? The "tree of life" describes phylogenetic hypotheses for evolutionary history among species, and modern phylogenetic comparative methods allow us to incorporate the tree of life into statistical analyses. This course will introduce phylogenetic comparative methods, why they are needed to answer many biological questions, how they are conducted, and how they can be used to evaluate hypotheses. These methods can be used for any group of organisms, from humans and their diseases, to plants, animals, or fungi. These methods also can be used to address a broad suite of questions in biology, including biomedical, ecological, evolutionary, developmental, and neuromechanical questions. For example, issues of public health can be more deeply addressed using these tools. Students may bring their own data sets, or may use existing data sets, and will develop an independent research project using these tools. Undergraduates will present a poster at a public poster fair, as part of the requirements for the SAGES capstone. No prior experience with the R statistics language is necessary for this course. BIOL314 fulfills the requirements for an undergraduate capstone in biology. Offered as BIOL 314 and BIOL 414 . Counts as a SAGES Senior Capstone course. Prereq: (Undergraduate student with at least Junior standing and BIOL 214 ) or Requisite Not Met permission.