Botany 940 - Systematics Seminar

Key Innovations

Spring 2003

Tuesday 12: 05-12:55

D. Baum, P. Berry, K. Sytsma - instructors

schedule

The focus of this seminar will be to examine questions like: How do we explain the diversity of organismal form and function? To what extent is this diversity an effect of the production of morphological and functional key innovations? How do we test whether a key innovation is correlated with the adaptive radiation of that clade? How can we reject null models of speciation rate, tree shape in order to accept the causality of key innovations in species number and tree shape? How can sister group relationships in phylogenetic trees be used to address these issues?

We will read the historical literature dealing with these questions, more modern analytical approaches to address the issues, and critically examine many of the examples of putative key innovations in plants and animals. The seminar is thus appropriate for those interested in ecology, systematics, diversity, and evolutionary biology in general. One or two papers will be read each week by all participants - faculty, staff, enrolled graduate students, and regular visitors. Approximately two days prior to the noon seminar, the names of two participants will be randomly selected to prepare critical overheads from the papers and initiate the discussion. PDF versions of the papers will be available through the links below.