Lecturer: Omar Rota-Stabelli

Summary: A combination of lectures and practicals using phylogenetic methods to explore the diversity within ecosystems and understand how species (or varieties/strains) of bacteria, viruses, insects, plants and fungi have evolved through time. The course is organised in 3 lessons:

1.  Introduction to molecular phylogenetics with a particular emphasis on species phylogenies and DNA barcoding (4 hours);

2. A focus on estimating divergence times of organisms using molecular clocks and on how to use this technique for paleobiological and paleoecological reconstructions (4 hours);

3. A journal club where students present and discuss a paper chosen form the literature on either barcoding or molecular clocks (4 hours).

Skills acquired: practical tools for studying the evolution and diversification of species (molecular phylogenetics, DNA barcoding, estimates of divergence times using molecular clocks); skills in presenting and discussing scientific articles on biodiversity.

Course Schedule 

Registration procedure: in order to register to the course, please write to phd.bioscie@unitn.it (Secretariat for CIBIO PhD Program) and to phd.aes@unitn.it (Secretariat for AES PhD Program)

Evaluation procedure: presentation