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Introduction

The EcoEvo Theory Group provides a context for researchers at UCLA (whether students, postdocs, or faculty) to engage themselves in an intellectual community that addresses key questions in Ecology and Evolutionary Biology through the development of theoretical models and statistical methodology. Theoretical approaches are integral to research throughout the Ecology and Evolutionary Biology department; this group facilitates sharing insights on the common challenges (often mathematical or computational) that arise in these pursuits.

Activities

Relevant activities for the group include:

  • "Triple T at the BB" (TTTBB): Tea on Tuesdays at Two pm at the Blackboard: Weekly informal discussion of research problems, techniques, or papers of broad interest. Fall semester 2008 first meeting: Oct 14th Life Sciences 4329.
  • Molecular phylogenetics journal club (contact Klaus Koepfli [klausk at lifesci ucla edu])
  • Theoretical population genetics journal club (contact John Novembre [jnovembre at ucla edu])
  • Theoretical ecology/population dynamics journal club (inquire at TTTBB)
    • R methods reading group (student run; inquire at TTTBB)
  • EcoLunch: A departmental biweekly seminar series with mostly in-house speakers presenting research in progress.

    • More information about activities can be found by signing up for our Mailing List.

    People

    Primary Faculty

    The following faculty have a major primary research emphasis on the development of theoretical models and statistical methodology relevant to ecology or evolutionary biology.

    Within the Ecology and Evolutionary department:

  • Michael Alfaro: comparative methods, Bayesian phylogenetics, macroevolution
  • Priyanga Amarasekare: Diversity maintenance in multi-trophic systems
  • Steve Hubbell: Biodiversity and biogeography
  • James Lloyd-Smith (arriving 2009): Infectious disease dynamics
  • Peter Nonacs: Evolution of social behavior
  • John Novembre: Population genetics, genetic structure, adaptive evolution, association mapping
  • Chuck Taylor: Population genetics, bioacoustics, adaptive communication systems

    • Outside the department:

  • Rob Boyd (Anthropology): Evolution of human cultural variation
  • Chris Lee (Biochemistry & Molecular Biology): Bioinformatics; evolution of alternative splicing; evolution of HIV drug resistance
  • Ken Lange (Biomathematics, Human Genetics): Population genetics / stochastic processes
  • Van Savage (Biomathematics, arriving 2009): Biodiversity maintenance, allometry, sleep, cancer
  • Marc Suchard (Biomathematics, Human Genetics, Biostatistics): Bayesian phylogenetic methods

    • Affiliated Faculty

    These faculty address theoretical/methodological problems within a broader empirical program. All are from the Ecology and Evolutionary Biology Department.

  • Paul Barber: Molecular approaches to ecology and evolution of marine systems
  • Patty Gowaty: Evolutionary dynamics of animal behavior
  • Dan Blumstein: Evolution of behavior and integration of behavior and conservation biology
  • Greg Grether: Behavioral ecology -- geographic variation, phenotypic plasticity, animal coloration
  • David Jacobs: Evolution/development of invertebrate body plans, paleobiology and marine speciation
  • Lawren Sack: Plant structure from physiology to ecology to conservation
  • Victoria Sork: Ecology, evolution, and conservation in plant populations
  • Richard Zimmer: chemical communication and physical and chemical approaches to ecology.

    • Courses

    This is an evolving list of graduate-level courses relevant to the EcoEvo Theory Group:
  • EEB M216: Statistical Methods for Life Sciences
  • EEB C219: Mathematical Ecology
  • EEB M200A: Evolutionary Biology - graduate-level survey course with emphasis on theory
  • EEB M200B: Ecology - graduate-level survey course with emphasis on theory
  • Biomath 201: Deterministic Models in Biology
  • Biomath / Human Genetics M203: Stochastic Models in Biology
  • Biomath / Human Genetics M211: Mathematical and Statistical Phylogenetics
  • Biomath / Biostat M234: Applied Bayesian Inference
  • Biomath M271/ Stats M254: Statistical Methods in Computational Biology
  • Biomath / Human Genetics M207A: Theoretical Genetic Modeling
  • Biostat M208: Introduction to Demographic Methods
  • Biostat 211: Statistical Methods for Epidemiology
  • Comp Sci CM221/Human Genetics M260A/Chem CM260A: Introduction to Bioinformatics
  • Chem and Biochem CM260B: Algorithms in Bioinformatics and Systems Biology
  • Comp Sci / Human Genetics CM224: Computational Genetics
  • Human Genetics / Chem M252: Seminar: Advanced Methods in Computational Biology
    • Note: There are additional relevant Biomath and Biostat courses. Click here for Biomath and here for Biostat for more complete lists.

    Related Resources at UCLA

  • Institute for Pure and Applied Mathematics
  • Department of Biomathematics
  • Interdepartmental Program in Bioinformatics
  • Department of Biostatistics
  • Statistical Genetics at UCLA
  • UCLA Academic Technology Services, Statistical Consulting Team