course objectives

fish444 conservation genetics

Objectives:
The main aim of this class is to develop your skills as a future scientist by providing a basis for progression in the field of conservation and genetics as a whole.

Specifics goals are:

• To provide the background for interpretation of genetic issues in conservation
• To read and critically evaluate papers from the primary literature
• To design and implement experiments
• To analyze and interpret data
• To write in a clear and concise manner research papers that are suitable for publication
• To contribute to discussions in a rapidly evolving field, both to lay people and to specialists.

Is this class for you?

This class is intended as a progression from Fish / Bio 340, or any related 300-level class. You will study many of the same principles covered in Fish / Bio 340, but most of the topics will be addressed in depth and in the context of conservation. You will also use many of the laboratory techniques you learned in Fish / Bio 340, but since our aim is to prepare you as a future scientist, you will implement many of these methods as part of a single research project. This work will be written up as a research paper aimed towards publication in a scientific journal. If you did not take Fish / Bio 340, you may have to cover some of the material through independent study.

Many people enrolling for this class are graduate students wishing to take a topic that they did not study during their undergraduate years. Some specifically wish to understand many population and quantitative genetics principles in a conservation setting. If these descriptions apply to you, this class is entirely suitable for you, but you will have to work harder to get the same marks as an undergraduate student! We do not mark on a curve, and we evaluate each individual according to her or his academic level (this mean undergraduates should not worry about the mix of levels in the class!).