Dear colleague, There are still some places available for the course "HISTORICAL BIOGEOGRAPHY: FUNDAMENTALS AND APPLICATIONS", June 15-19, 2015. INSTRUCTORS: Dr. Lone Aagesen (IBODA, CONICET, Argentina) and Dr. Claudia A. Szumik (Miguel Lillo Foundation, CONICET, Argentina). PLACE: Facilities of the Centre of Restauració i Interpretació Paleontologica, Els Hostalets de Pierola, Barcelona (Spain). WEBPAGE AND REGISTRATION: http://www.transmittingscience.org/courses/biog/historic-biogeography/ PROGRAM: Topic 1. Historical Background: - The connection to cladistics. Basic concepts of cladistic methods. Optimality criteria in systematics and its connection to biogeography. How to manage space. Topic 2. Raw Data: - Distribution maps. Errors in databases. Georeferencing and how to measure the error of data points. Topic 3. Areas of Endemism: - Basic concepts. Formal and informal approaches to identify areas of endemism. The importance of quantitative methods and how different methods relate to what is being evaluated. - Optimality criterion in analyses of endemicity. Some suggestions for renaming the concept of areas of endemism. The need for a zero model. Introduction to the programs NDM/VNDM (Identification of endemism areas). Optimality, ambiguity, support, consensus in the framework of areas of endemism. Topcic 4. Vicariance Events: - Distinguishing between studying the history of taxa and studying the history of earth. Short review of different approaches for studying taxon history (ancestral areas, Diva, Brooks parsimony analysis, coevolution). - Short review of different approaches for studying the history of earth (Brooks parsimony analysis, principal components). - Hovenkamp’s critique of historical biogeography and his suggestions for improvement. The importance of implementing a spatial component. Optimality criterion for identifying potential barriers. Optimality, ambiguity, support, and consensus in the framework of vicariance events. Software available at http://www.lillo.org.ar/phylogeny/. Organized by: Transmitting Science, the Institut Catalá de Paleontologia Miquel Crusafont and the Centre de Restauració i Interpretació Paleontologica de Els Hostalets de Pierola. For more information you can write to [log in to unmask] <http://webmail.icp.cat/webmail/basic/index.html?_n%5Bp%5D%5Bmain%5D=win.main.tree&_n%5Bp%5D%5Bcontent%5D=mail.compose&[log in to unmask]> . Please feel free to distribute this information between your colleagues if you consider it appropriate. With best regards Soledad De Esteban-Trivigno, PhD. [log in to unmask] Transmitting Science www.transmittingscience.org