Animal Diversity - Invertebrates

The course covers the staggering multitude of invertebrates that make up more than 95% of the animal species. A thorough survey of the current phylogenetic hypotheses that help making sense of animal diversity is a central theme of the course The course will review data from comparative anatomy, developmental biology, natural history, genetics, genomics, and other fields in order to assess our current understanding of animal evolution. A twelve day field course at a marine lab provides first hand encounters with many of the major animal groups. After the course you will be familiar with the main animal groups, their biology, and current phylogenetic hypotheses detailing their evolution. The course is given in the period November-December