BIOL 445Molecular Ecology
Evolutionary and ecological processes can now be better understood through the application of molecular and genomic tools. The course will explore the history of the application of molecular tools as well as the contemporary application of methods with genomic data. The course involves a mix of lectures-outlining history and concepts-but a greater emphasis on bioinformatic analyses using real-world data. This will includes conducting analyses on Penn State's "Roar supercomputer" and learning the statistical tools required to analyze these molecular data. The course also includes a synthetic final project, drawn from the primary literature that includes reading and explaining the questions and tools involved in the field of Molecular Ecology.