Palaeobiogeography 1300-OPBG4W
The lecture presents the basic concepts of historical biogeography. The introductory part discusses the basic terminology, biogeographic patterns and processes, the species concepts, evolutionary models, types of evolutionary change, and approaches to taxonomy. The main part discusses the major methods, along with the presentation of the analytical procedures, of historical biogeography: (1) phenetic biogeography, (2) cladistics biogeography, (3) phylogenetic biogeography, and finally (4) parsimonious analysis of endemicity. Widely discussed are temporal and geographical patterns of biodiversity, and their paleontological record, analytical methods, potential biogeographic studies and methodological limitations. In final, systematic part of the lecture, the selected, most interesting moments in the biogeographical history of the Earth are presented.
Type of course
Prerequisites (description)
Learning outcomes
The student should be familiar with the basic concepts, principles and methods of historical biogeography; Should know, how to interpret the palaeontological and palaeogeographical record in terms of biogeography; should be able to choose the most appropriate biogeographical method, depending on the material available; should know the rules and procedures of the phenetic and cladistic biogeographic analysis methods.
Assessment criteria
Written test.
Additional information
Additional information (registration calendar, class conductors, localization and schedules of classes), might be available in the USOSweb system: