Using phylogenetic information in community ecology research

May 26-27, 2016

Pilar Junier

Dr. Patrick Venail, UNIGE

Sandrine Pavoine
Associate Professor at the National Museum of Natural History in Paris. Ph.D in Statistical Ecology from the University of Lyon, France (2005).

Anita Narwani
Community ecologist. Group leader at Eawag, Swiss Federal Institute of Aquatic Science and Technology. Ph.D. in Biology from the University of Victoria, Canada (2011).

Patrick Venail
Community ecologist. Senior Research and Teaching Assistant at the University of Geneva.
Ph.D. in Ecology and Evolution from the University of Montpellier, France (2010).

There is a long tradition in ecology of trying to understand community assembly processes by making inferences from patterns of community structure. Over the last few years, with the increasing availability of genetic sequence data and phylogenetic tools, the number of studies using phylogenetic information to infer processes of community assembly (i.e., community phylogenetics) has increased rapidly. Community phylogenetics tends to use patterns of phylogenetic distance or dispersion among members in a community to infer the nature and strength of the ecological processes that drive the structure of communities. This approach has led to some recurrent misinterpretations that should stop form being propagated. This two-day workshop aims at exploring with the students the state of the art in the field of community phylogenetics.

What happens during the workshop?

Day 1Morning - A 1.5 hour introductive lecture on community phylogenetics. - Two 30 minutes presentations from invited speakers. Afternoon - Form working groups of 2-3 people with shared interests. - Select scientific papers to discuss within groups. - Read and discuss the papers.

Day 2 Morning - Faculty members will visit and assist the groups. - Students present the scientific papers. Afternoon - Discuss about we learned about community phylogenetics.

Université de Genève Uni Carl Vogt, 2e étage 66 boul. Carl-Vogt CH-1211 Genève 4 Salle A2 annexe A

Cancellation Rules
Your enrollment is automatically accepted and binding at the moment of your inscription.
Nevertheless, cancelations are accepted until 2 weeks before the date of the activity. After this date a fee of 50CHF will be charged.

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