ItDepends

Dates: June 24-28 2022

For questions to the audience use the hashtag #ItDependsEvol2022

For more information please check the main conference website

Location : Cleveland, Ohio

Title: How do we make decisions about data and analyses in systematic biology? It depends!

Description: When conceiving and developing evolutionary studies, scientists must confront a vast array of difficult questions, such as how to choose among different data types and methods of data collection, and determine which analyses will best address hypotheses. These decisions can affect study outcomes, and often depend upon the scope of the question, the data currently available, and other logistical challenges. In this time of ever-expanding quantities of data and elaborate statistical and computational tools, what is the best way for systematists and evolutionary biologists to make informed decisions about data collection and analysis? The answer we often encounter is “it depends,” which causes confusion among new scientists entering the field or those exploring a new topic in evolutionary biology. The first step towards dispelling this confusion and guiding the future work of systematists is assembling a catalog of benefits and pitfalls of current approaches. This symposium brings together a wide range of experts studying molecular and morphological evolution, paleobiology, and biogeography to discuss practical and theoretical considerations faced when designing and conducting research in each of these fields. Experts will discuss the caveats and assumptions they grapple with when choosing data and methods to apply to a particular question, focusing both on successful approaches as well as setbacks they have encountered throughout the process.

Schedule

Session 1: Genomics/Molecular Evolution

Talk 1: Genomic and transcriptomic dynamics within Ctenophora: Insights from the genome of a ctenophore-eating ctenophore

Alexandra Hernandez, Melissa DeBiasse, Lana Dykes, Allison Edgar, Mark Martindale, Joseph Ryan Whitney Laboratory for Marine Bioscience, Whitney Laboratory for Marine Bioscience, University of Florida, ST AUGUSTINE, FL

 

Talk 2: Decreasing bias against marine invertebrates in comparative genomics studies through machine learning.

Jennifer L. Spillane, Rebecca Dikow Smithsonian Institution, Brunswick, NH, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, DC

 

Talk 3: Data types, taxon sampling, and other decisions in phylotranscriptomics and inferring whole genome duplications: a study in ferns

Jessie Pelosi, Emily Kim, W. Brad Barbazuk, Emily Sessa University of Florida, Gainesville, Department of Microbiology and Cell Sciences, University of Florida, 3University of Florida, Biology, University of Florida, Gainesville, FL

Session 2: Ecology and Evolution

Talk 1: Evolution of species interactions: from tanglegrams to ancestral networks

Mariana P Braga, SLU, Uppsala, Sweden

 

Talk 2: Testing the robustness of evidence for genomic parallelism associated with climatic adaptation

Samridhi Chaturvedi, Zachariah Gompert, jeffrey L. feder, Owen Osborne, Moritz Muschick, Rudiger Riesch, Patrik Nosil University of California, Berkeley, Berkeley, CA, Utah State University, Logan, UT, University of Notre Dame, granger, Indiana, Bangor University, University of Bern, EAWAG Center for Ecology, Evolution & Biogeochemistry, Bern, BE, Switzerland, 6Department of Biological Sciences, Royal Holloway University of London, University Paul Valéry Montpellier

 

Talk 3: Evolution of substrate use across global assemblages of the goatfishes (Mullidae)

Chloe M. Nash, Linnea Lungstrom, Mark W. Westneat University of Chicago, Chicago, IL, University of Chicago

Session 3: Macroevolution/Morphological Evolution/Paleobiology

Talk 1: Automated landmarking via multiple templates

Chi Zhang, Arthur Porto, Sara Rolfe, Altan Kocatulum,, A. Murat Maga Seattle Children’s Research Institute, Seattle, 2Department of Biological Sciences, Louisiana State University, Seattle Children’s Research Institute, Alfred University, University of Washington

 

Talk 2: Morphometrics as a tool for molluscan systematics: a paleobiological perspective

Shamindri Tennakoon, University of Florida, Gainesville

 

Talk 3: Inferring diversification rates from fossil data: assumptions, choices, challenges

David Cerný, Orlando Schwery 1University of Chicago, Chicago, Illinois, Southeastern Louisiana University, Hammond, ID

 

Talk 4: Evaluating different approaches to handling taxonomic uncertainty using the fossilized birth-death process

Rachel C. Warnock, Joëlle Barido-Sottani, Kenneth De Baets, Jérémie Sciré, Alexander Pohle, Duncan Murdock FAU, Erlangen, Germany, ENS PSL, Paris, France, University of Warsaw, ETH Zurich, University of Zurich, 6Oxford Museum of Natural History

Please reach out to the symposium organizer:

Dr. Alex Hernandez (Recent graduate, University of Florida) Twitter

Natya Hans (Ph.D. Candidate, University of Florida) Twitter

Chloe Nash (Ph.D. Candidate, University of Chicago) Twitter