1. komponenta

Lecture type	Total
Lectures	30
Practicum	15
Seminar	15

LEARNING OUTCOMES

It is expected that the students will:
-understand theorethical concepts important for molecular ecology research
-be able to critically evaluate and asses approaches and tools availabe for addressing questions in molecular ecology
-be able to critically evaluate examples of molecular ecology research
-be competent to implement the knowledge gained during this course

CLASS SCHEDULE

LECTURES
- Molecular biology for ecologists
- A history of molecular ecology
- Molecular biology methods important for molecular ecology (PCR, fragment analysis, genotyping, sequencing, molecular cloning, SNP analysis etc.)
- Molecular markers: development, main characteristics, comparison of various markers, neutral markers
- Adaptive molecular markers (major histocompatibility complex genes): theoretical background and application
- Genetic analyses of populations (quantifying genetic diversity, Hardy-Weinberg equilibrium, influences on genetic diversity)
- Biodiversity and genetic diversity
- Molecular identification of species, individuals and sex, molecular identification of hybrids
- Kinship assessment and animal mating systems, parentage testing
- Phylogeography
- Southern European refugia
- Conservation genetics
- Forensic genetics
- Molecular ecology in Croatia

LABORATORY
- DNA extraction
- polymerase chain reaction
- agarose gel electrophoresis
- DNA cloning with plasmid vectors (ligation, transformation, transfer of selected colonies to culture medium, plasmid DNA isolation and purification)

SEMINARS
- discussions of a science journal articles
- answering review questions
- data analyses demonstrations

1. T. Beebee, G. Rowe (2008) An Introduction to Molecular Ecology, 2nd ed., Oxford University Press, USA
2. J. Freeland, H. Kirk, S.D. Petersen (2011) Molecular Ecology, 2nd ed., Wiley-Blackwell, UK
3. A. Ristov (glavna urednica) (2007) Metode u molekularnoj biologiji. Institut Ruđer Bošković, Zagreb
4. A. Karp, P. G. Isaac i D. S. Ingram (Eds) (1998) Molecular Tools for Screening Biodiversity, Plants and animals. Chapman & Hall, London
5. A. R. Hoelzel (1998) Molecular Genetic Analysis of Populations, 2nd Ed. The Practical Approach Series. Oxford University Press. Oxford
6. D. B. Goldstein i C. Schloetterer (1999) Microsatellites. Evolution and Applications. Oxford University Press, Oxford
7. J. K. Conner i D. L. Hartl (2004) A Primer of Ecological Genetics. Sinauer Associates, Inc. Massachusetts, USA

Izborni kolegiji - Regular study - Ecology and Nature Preservation