21-01-2016
A two day introductory course on parsimony-based phylogenetic analysis in paleontology and morphological studies, for students and proffesionals, to be held at the Departamento de Ciências da Terra, Universidade de Nova Lisboa.
Aim of the course: Phylogenetic analyses are a key tool for paleontologists. The aim of this course is to provide the participants the basic skills need to perform a morphological phylogenetic analysis and publish their results. The basics of parsimony analysis and character optimisation will be covered.
Target public and credits: Open to anyone but targeted to students and professionals in evolutionary biology and paleontology. Diploma will be provided by FCT-UNL. This training can be included as supplement to the graduation or master diploma (accreditation still pending).
Instructors: Miguel Moreno Azanza and Octávio Mateus (FCT- University NOVA of Lisbon)
Requirements: All participants are required to bring their own laptop. Windows strongly recommended (MacOS versions of the software available but without user interface).
Dates and contents: The course will have three sessions, each with theoretical and practical lessons, plus and an additional optional workshop session to provide assistance with the attendees’ datasets. Total Hours of Training: 16h.
1st Day (March 12th)
Session 1: Introduction to cladistic analysis using parsimony-based methods.
Introduction to systematics, basic concepts, how to build a matrix and best practices.
Session 2: Introduction to parsimony-based software.
Introduction to TNT: Editing your matrix. Basic Searches. Consensus trees. Branch support. Getting trees ready to publish.
2nd day (March 13th)
Session 3: Intermediate-level use of parsimony-based software.
Continuous characters and mixed matrices. Weighting characters. New technology searchers. Constrained searches. Basic scripts. Other stuff TNT can do.
Session 4: Workshop: bring your matrix to the lab (optional).
Participants will be allowed to bring their matrices to the lab, to be examined in a collaborative approach by the class.
Language: English (translation into Portuguese is available if necessary)
Place: Departamento de Ciências da Terra, Building IX, Universidade Nova de Lisboa, 2829-516 Caparica, Portugal
GPS Coordinates: 38.660734, -9.207075
https://www.google.com/maps/place/Departamento+de+Ciências+da+Terra,+DCT-FCT-UNL
Registration fees: Non student: 150 euros. Students of Universidade Nova de Lisboa (Mestrado de Paleontologia and others): free. Other student: 30 euros. (student card is required). Payment is done at the beginning of the course.
Registration: Send an email to: Miguel Moreno-Azanza (mmazanza@fct.unl.pt) including your name, email, professional situation, institution and where you learn about this course, until March, 1st.
Questions can be addressed to: mmazanza@fct.unl.pt