Bayesian total-evidence dating has recently emerged as one of the best strategies for dating phylogenetic trees. However, while numerous studies have applied these models of time estimation to animals, plants face a slower application of these methodologies. In addition, plant fossils can be particularly challenging because of the fragmentary nature of the fossil material and the small number of fossils available. In practice, divergence time estimation in plant clades requires expertise in paleobotany, systematics, phylogenetics and statistics. Our workshop aims to provide a space for biologists interested in paleobotany and Bayesian total-evidence dating to:

1) discuss challenges and learn tools to extract character information from plant fossils.

2) explore statistical methods to cluster fossils and extant taxa.

3) get a theoretical and practical introduction to total-evidence dating using the software RevBayes.

Workshop editions

This workshop has been offered twice in-person. Nevertheless all the materials are available in this website so anybody can follow along and complete the exercises.

• Evolution 2022 in Cleveland, Ohio.

• SSB standalone meeting in Mexico City.

Instructors

Rocio Deanna
University of Colorado at Boulder (US)
Instituto Multidisciplinario de Biología Vegetal (CONICET-UNC, Argentina)
rocio.deanna@colorado.edu

Ixchel González-Ramírez
University of California, Berkeley
ixchel_gonzalezrmz@berkeley.edu