Current course offerings

Please Note: Course profiles marked as not available may still be in development.

Course description

This course examines the processes that drive the diversity and distributions of plants and animals. It will cover topics about the basic units of biodiversity - species -and how new species are discovered, recognised and described. We cover the phylogenetic basis of classification systems, and the different methods used to reconstruct evolutionary history and to test the origin of traits, including those relevant for ecology and adaption. We discuss processes that are thought to contribute to lineage diversity, and how biodiversity has changed through time and over large geographic scales. Case studies come primarily from plants and animals (both terrestrial and marine), but with some reference to other organisms. Examples will largely be drawn from, but not limited to, Australian examples.

Archived offerings