Zoogeography                     Assignments                      Winter Term 2 – 2020


Date Assigned

Date Due

Assignments


Jan 13

Jan 17
 
 
Assignment 1: Work through this tutorial using R Studio

  Optional readings:

  Lomolino et al. textbook
:
  Chapter 3 - The Geographic Template: Visualization and  
  analysis of biogeographic patterns

  Chapter 4 - Distribution of Species: Ecological foundations

 
  MacArthur, R.H. (1972) Climates on a Rotating Earth in   
  Geographical Ecology: Patterns in the Distribution of Species.
  Harper & Row, NY. PDF

  Holt, R.D. (2003) On the evolutionary ecology of species'
  ranges. Evolutionary Ecology Research 5: 159-178. PDF
 
Jan 20
Jan 24
 
  Assignment 2 Paper: Claramunt, S., Derryberry, E.P., Remsen,
  J.V. and Brumfield, R.T., 2012. High dispersal ability inhibits  
  speciation in a continental radiation of passerine birds.
  Proceedings of the Royal Society of London B: Biological
  Sciences, 279(1733), pp.1567-1574. PDF and Supp Mat.
 
  Assignment 2 Discussion Questions - Full set
  Hand in hard copy by 12:00pm Monday, Jan 27th
  at Biodiversity Research Centre Rm 325
  (or hand in at the end of class on Monday)

  Read about Santiago Claramunt and his lab's research
  at University of Toronto 

  Optional readings from Lomolino et al. textbook:
  Chapter 6 - Dispersal and Immigration


Jan 27
Jan 31

  Assignment 2 Discussion Questions
  due Mon Jan 27th at noon

  Assignment 3 Paper: Fennessy, J., Bidon, T., Reuss, F., 
  Kumar, V., Elkan, P., Nilsson, M.A., and Janke, A. 2016.  
  Multi-locus analyses reveal four giraffe species instead of
  one. Current Biology, 26(18), 2543-2549. PDF and Supp Mat.

  Also READ this link to Jerry Coyne's blog for Discussion
  Friday!

  Optional: check out one of  press releases from this article:
  Science Daily, The Guardian, Biosphere

  Assignment 3 Discussion Questions - Full set
  Hand in hard copy by 4:00pm on Friday, Feb 7th
  to Biodiv 325 (NOTE EXTENDED DEADLINE FOR THIS
  ASSIGNMENT)

Jan 20
Feb 10

  New deadline for Term Paper Outline
  extended to Monday February 10th in class

  Instructions for your Term Paper Outline and Full Assignment

 
Review the Marking Rubric for the term paper assignment

  Start to work ahead on Assignment 5, due March 13th

  Optional readings from Lomolino et al. textbook:
  Chapter 9 - Glaciation and Biogeographic Dynamics of the  
  Pleistocene



Feb 10

Feb 24
 
  Assignment 4 Paper: Weir, J.T., Haddrath, O., Robertson, H.
  A., Colbourne, R.M., & Baker, A.J. (2016). Explosive ice age
  diversification of kiwi. Proceedings of the National Academy
  of Sciences, 113(38), E5580-E5587.
PDF
  Also look over figures in
Supp Mat.

 
Assignment 4 Discussion Questions - Full Set

  (Assignment 4 will be due the Monday after Reading Week)

  Also check out this paper on insect phylogeography in NZ,
  which could help with your answers....

 
  Optional reading - but(!) relevant to Glaciation lectures
  and helpful for thinking about your term paper:

  Ribas, C. C., Aleixo, A., Nogueira, A. C., Miyaki, C. Y., &
  Cracraft, J. (2011). A palaeobiogeographic model for biotic
  diversification within Amazonia over the past three million
  years. Proceedings of the Royal Society of London B:
  Biological Sciences, 279, 681-689. PDF

 
  Optional readings from Lomolino et al. textbook:
  Chapter 9 - Glaciation and Biogeographic Dynamics of the  
  Pleistocene


Feb 22

 Feb 28

 
  Assignment 4 Due Monday, Feb 22nd

  Review the Practice Midterm Exam
  &
  (Revised) Key for Practice Midterm Exam


Mar 2

Mar 13
 
   Assignment 5 - UPDATED Creating a Distribution Map
   for your Study Taxa - Continue to work on this
  assignment during Tutorial on Friday Mar 6th.
  Assignment 5 Due Friday March 13th


Mar 2

Mar 16

 
  Assignment 6 Paper: Graham, C. H., Parra, J. L., Rahbek, C., &
  McGuire, J. A. (2009). Phylogenetic structure in tropical
  hummingbird communities. Proceedings of the National
  Academy of Sciences, 106, 19673-19678. PDF


  
Assignment 6 Discussion Questions - Full Set
  *Hand in hard copy of full question set by
 
  12:00PM Noon Friday, March 20th
  NOTE EXTENDED DEADLINE

  Submit hard copy to Biodiversity Research Centre Rm 325
  OR emailed assignments are acceptable!

  Midterm Exam Key - you can review your marks on the
  midterm and compare answers here.

  * Please note that due to COVID-19 precautions, we are
  anticipating university closures very soon. Please check the
  Announcements link for course information and instructions
  for attending online lectures moving forward. We are   
  working to adjust quickly as new alerts appear and we are
  following university directions.

  Today's class (Friday March 13) is in session.

Mar 17
Mar 20
 
  Assignment 7 Paper: Ricklefs, R.E. (2008) Disintegration of 
  the ecological community. American Naturalist 172: 741-750.
  PDF

  There is no assignment due for this paper, but we will have  
  online tutorial, where we will discuss these questions





Mar 20




April 3
 
  NEW! THIS FINAL ASSIGNMENT IS OPTIONAL (see below)
 
  Assignment 8 Paper: Helmus, M.R., Mahler, D.L. and
  Losos, J.B., 2014. Island biogeography of the Anthropocene. 
  Nature, 513: 543-546.
PDF
 
  Discussion Questions - work on these questions as
  you read through the paper and submit your assignment via
  email by noon on Friday April 3rd

 
We have decided to make this assignment optional. You can
  submit it and the score will replace the score of your lowest
  assignment. Our discussion will proceed online on Friday as
  planned.