Wiley-Blackwell Systematics: A Course of Lectures

Systematics: A Course of Lectures is designed for use in an advanced undergraduate or introductory graduate level course in systematics and is meant to present core systematic concepts and literature. The book covers topics such as the history of systematic thinking and fundamental concepts in the field including species concepts, homology, and hypothesis testing. Analytical methods are covered in detail with chapters devoted to sequence alignment, optimality criteria, and methods such as distance, parsimony, maximum likelihood and Bayesian approaches. Trees and tree searching, consensus and super-tree methods, support measures, and other relevant topics are each covered in their own sections. The work is not a bleeding-edge statement or in-depth review of the entirety of systematics, but covers the basics as broadly as could be handled in a one semester course. Most chapters are designed to be a single 1.5 hour class, with those on parsimony, likelihood, posterior probability, and tree searching two classes (2 x 1.5 hours). Review “Viewed as a series of lectures, this is clearly aimed at graduate level courses in systematics, although some elements would prove useful at undergraduate level.”  (British Ecological Society Bulletin, 1 August 2013)“If you want to teach yourself systematics, this book is for you. It’s just a series of lectures and exercises compiled by Wheeler, one of the top systematic biologists.”  (Teaching Biology, 20 December 2012)“All things considered, I strongly recommend this work as a textbook for those teaching in systematics, biologists and palaeontologists alike . . . I would advise this book to graduate students – MSc and above.”  (Journal of Zoological Systematics and Evolutionary Research, 1 February 2013) From the Inside Flap Systematics: a course of lectures is designed for use in an advanced undergraduate or introductory graduate level course in systematics and is meant to present core systematic concepts and literature. The book covers topics such as the history of systematic thinking and fundamental concepts in the field including species concepts, homology, and hypothesis testing. Analytical methods are covered in detail with chapters devoted to sequence alignment, optimality criteria, and methods such as distance, parsimony, maximum likelihood and Bayesian approaches. Trees and tree searching, consensus and super-tree methods, support measures, and other relevant topics are each covered in their own sections. The work is not a bleeding-edge statement or in-depth review of the entirety of systematics, but covers the basics as broadly as could be handled in a one semester course. Most chapters (with exercises) are designed to be a single 1.5 hour class, with those on parsimony, likelihood, posterior probability, and tree searching two classes (2 x 1.5 hours). From the Back Cover Systematics: a course of lectures is designed for use in an advanced undergraduate or introductory graduate level course in systematics and is meant to present core systematic concepts and literature. The book covers topics such as the history of systematic thinking and fundamental concepts in the field including species concepts, homology, and hypothesis testing. Analytical methods are covered in detail with chapters devoted to sequence alignment, optimality criteria, and methods such as distance, parsimony, maximum likelihood and Bayesian approaches. Trees and tree searching, consensus and super-tree methods, support measures, and other relevant topics are each covered in their own sections. The work is not a bleeding-edge statement or in-depth review of the entirety of systematics, but covers the basics as broadly as could be handled in a one semester course. Most chapters (with exercises) are designed to be a single 1.5 hour class, with those on parsimony, likelihood, posterior probability, and tree searching two classes (2 x 1.5 hours). About the Author