Workshop 1 Description:

Workshop 1: Phylogeography and Phylogenetics

The workshop in phylogeography and phylogenetics will focus on the maturation of quantitative techniques that need to occur in these fields. Analytical development is a challenge for researchers seeking clear and unambiguous inferences because both fields use complicated multiparameterized models. A given pattern of genetic diversity between and among species or populations can usually be explained and produced by different scenarios. Maturation of phylogenetic methodologies will be critical if we hope to study such things as the tree of life, linking phenotypic and historical evolution, ancestral character state reconstruction, viral evolution, and the evolution of regulation in protein expression. Likewise, solving the analytical and computational challenges necessary for phylogeographic inferences will be critical for studying dispersal distances, mating systems, sex-biased dispersal, pathogen history, speciation, selection, local adaptation, hybridization, community history, food web stability, the origin of human pathogens, and the evolutionary history of humans.