DEST - Taxonomy Training

Description of project:
Subterranean Malacostraca are an ecologically important segment of freshwater fauna, providing over 1/3 of the total diversity of some groups. These animals have the potential to reveal evolutionary and ecological issues of a broad interest, as well as to take over a central role in groundwater conservation strategy. This potential remains nowadays unexplored due to confusing taxonomy with many cryptic species. The training project emphasizes main morphological and molecular techniques used in the systematics of selected groups (Amphipoda: Niphargidae, Isopoda: Asellidae, Decapoda: Atyidae) including phylogenetic analyses, species delimitation criteria and identification tools.

Duration of training:
4 weeks

Training period:
To be discussed with mentor (training within the period October 2011 - February 2012)

Target Audience:
MSc students, PhD students and early career researchers. We encourage participants to bring their own samples.

Practical experiences: 

• Techniques used for study of morphology (Amphipoda, Isopoda, Decapoda)
• Use of online morpho-database (Amphipoda)
• Molecular laboratory techniques (Amphipoda, Isopoda, Decapoda)
• Analytic methods used for morphological and molecular data

Seminars:
Species concepts, Criteria for species delimitation

Name of mentor/supervisor:
Cene Fišer

Institution:
University of Ljubljana, Biotechnical Faculty
Department of Biology, Group for Zoology and Speleobiology
Večna pot 111, Ljubljana 1000, Slovenia

Registration fee:
€ 800 (Euros)
Participants are responsible for their own travel and subsistence expenses.
The Department of Biology provides the possibility to rent some apartments.

Registration:
Deadline for registration: 1 October 2011
Participants will be notified by 14 October 2011 whether accepted to the training.
Click here for the registration form.

Payment:
Payment details and deadline will be provided upon acceptance to the training.