Monday – Classes from 2-8 pm Berlin time

Introduction

Introduction to analytical paleobiology and studies of past diversity and biogeography

Types of fossil data and databases

The Paleobiology Database (PBDB)

Introduction to the PBDB, available data, functionality, and limitations

Practical: Walk through of the PBDB and exploration of possible analyses

Tuesday – Classes from  2-8 pm Berlin time

Working in R

Introduction to the analysis of fossil data in R

Practical: Import and manipulate PBDB data in R

Introduction to useful R packages

Good data management and organisation

Analyses and visualisation

Introduction to useful R packages for analytical paleobiology

Plotting diversity-through-time, etc.

Plotting on modern-day and paleogeographic maps

 

 

Wednesday – Classes from  2-8 pm Berlin time

 

Fossil record biases

Overview of biases and how they affect diversity estimates

Practical: Statistical exploration of sampling biases (e.g. Good’s u)

Sampling standardisation

Introduction to methods of sampling standardisation

Practical: Correcting for sampling using coverage-based rarefaction/SQS

Thursday – Classes from  2-8 pm Berlin time

Introduction to paleobiogeographical analyses

       -Occurrence data
       -Spatiotemporal and predictive models
       -Combined (fossil + geography + climate) approaches

Hands-on session and discussion about own data
       -Summary, open discussion and questions

 

 

Friday – Classes from  2-8 pm Berlin time
Introduction to other methods in analytical paleobiology

Integrating different methods e.g. Phylogenetic comparative methods, etc.

Hypothesis testing

Mini-project

Using PBDB for any fossil group and any combination of the techniques introduced over the past 4 days, prepare a short

presentation of a topic of your choosing