Course Description: Phylogenetic analyses are increasingly
important in many different fields of biological research, particularly
as advances in molecular genetic techniques have made large DNA sequence
datasets readily available. This course covers the basic methods of phylogenetic
analysis and their application in fields such as systematics, comparative
biology, and molecular evolution. Lectures will emphasize the logical
bases and computational details of various tree-building algorithms and
associated methods of hypothesis testing, as well as novel applications
of phylogenetic analysis in various fields of biology. Computer-based
labs will give students the opportunity to implement these methods using
a variety of phylogenetic software.
Syllabus
