Evolutionary Biogeography

The goals of the course are to (a) examine how geographically-linked characteristics of species influence their potential for evolution and extinction; and (b) provide an overview of the analytical techniques and applications for studying the interplay between geographic ranges, environment, evolution, and extinction. Accordingly, the course begins by examining what geographic ranges of species are and what controls them. We then will explore how geographic-range characteristics influence and interact with speciation and extinction processes. With that foundation, we will examine how species assemble into communities and how ecological processes govern distributions at the community and landscape levels, touching on such topics as community energetics, scaling issues, and the influences of humans on "natural" ecosystems. The last third of the course will be devoted to an overview of quantitative analytical techniques that commonly are used to study interactions between biogeogeographic ranges, evolutionary processes, extinction, and environmental change.