PhD courses
We teach the following courses for PhD students at CSIR-CCMB.
A module on Evolution (1 credit - AcSIR-03-ID-004) - mandatory course
A module on Biostatistics in Research Methodology (1 Credit - AcSIR-03-RM) - mandatory course
A full course on Evolution and Ecology (2 credits - AcSIR-03-BS-AD-008 & AcSIR-03-BS-AD-007) - optional courses
Evolution
We discuss the theory of natural selection, the history of life and rocks, DNA and Heritability, the Tree of Life – Systematics and Phylogenetics, micro to macroevolutionary patterns and processes, including populations genetics, speciation, biogeography and diversification.
Lastly, we learn about different approaches, frameworks and tools applied in evolutionary studies, including experimental, theoretical and observational lab and filed based studies.
We also have guest lectures by evolutionary biologists during the course. This year, we heard from Abhishek Gopal and Pragyadeep Roy
Instructor - Jahnavi Joshi
Ecology
@Nehal Gurung
We explored ecological concepts in population, community, and macroecology. We mainly discussed physical environmental and climatic variables, species distribution and abundance, niche theory, and plant-animal interactions. We also discussed invasive and microbial ecology.
We also have guest lectures by ecologists during the course. This year, we heard from Dr Karthik Vasudevan, Rishiddh Jhaveri, Gopi Krishnan and Manisha Ray.
Instructor - Jahnavi Joshi
We use the following books and online resources while teaching the evolution and ecology course.
Reference books:
Evolution: Making sense of life by Carl Zimmer, Douglas J. Emlen
The beak of the Finch: A story of the Evolution in Our Time by Jonathan Weiner
In the Light of Evolution, Essays from the Laboratory and Field. Edited by Jonathan Losos
A primer of ecology by Nicholas J. Gotelli
Online resources:
Reflections on papers past: https://reflectionsonpaperspast.com/
Evolution: Education and Outreach: https://evolution-outreach.springeropen.com/
Understanding Evolution: http://evolution.berkeley.edu/
Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History: http://humanorigins.si.edu/education/teaching-evolution-through-human-examples
hhmi biointeractive: https://www.biointeractive.org/
Principles of Ecology course material put together by Prof. Daijiang Li: https://ecology.dlilab.com/schedule_materials/
Introduction to Biostatistics
We discussed measures of central tendency and dispersion, sample, and effect sizes. We also discussed elements of study design, collecting, managing and understanding your data, and basic descriptive, exploratory and inferential analysis.
Book and Online Resources
R in a nutshell: https://www.oreilly.com/library/view/r-in-a/9781449358204/
Coding Club: A Positive Peer-Learning Community - https://ourcodingclub.github.io/
Data Analysis and Visualization in R for Ecologists: https://datacarpentry.org/R-ecology-lesson/
Statistics for biology and health by
The R book by Crawley