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701-1676-01L 2 Credits DR , MSC D-USYS

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Genomics of Environmental Adaptation

Lecturers & Examiners: Prof. Dr. Rolf Holderegger, Dr. Felix Gugerli, Dr. Christian Rellstab

Number of participants limited to 14. Prerequisites: good knowledge in population genetics and some experience in using GIS and R is required.

VVZ CR n/a

Last Updated: 2026-02-05 15:34:26

Abstract

This five-day winter school aims at teaching advanced Master students, PhD students and post-doctoral researchers on aspects of the genomics of environmental adaptation. It provides both theoretical background and hands-on exercises on major topics of contemporary environmental genomics such as signatures of selection, outlier analysis or environmental association analysis.

Objective

Genomics of environmental adaptation is an evolving scientific field of both basic and applied interest. Researchers make increasing use of diverse methodological approaches built on concepts from ecology, evolutionary biology and population genomics. This winter school introduces students to some major concepts and methods of environmental genomics, i.e., (i) how the environment and adaptive genetic variation relate and (ii) how signatures of local adaptation can be detected in natural populations using genomic data. The winter school focuses on currently used methods and hands-on exercises, emphasizing an understanding of the underlying concepts and a discussion of benefits, limitations and pitfalls of environmental genomics. It is specifically aimed at the needs of advanced Master students, PhD students and post-doctoral researchers.

Content

Topics: (1) Genetic structure: how selection, drift, gene flow and isolation interact, affect neutral and adaptive genetic variation and influence the genetic structure of populations. (2) Environmental data: which environmental data are available and used to identify signatures of adaptation; what are their limitations; collinearity; sampling design. (3) Outlier analysis: types of next-generation-sequencing data; concept and methodology of outlier analysis; diverse types of outlier analyses. (4) Environmental association analysis (landscape genomics): concept and methodology of environmental association analysis; diverse types of environmental association analysis. (5) Phenotypes and genomic data; GWAS; mechanistic understanding of the environment–genotype–phenotype interaction; designing an own study.

Resources

Lecture Notes

Hand-outs will be distributed.

Literature

The course requires 4 hours of preparatory reading of selected papers on the genomics of environmental adaptation. These papers will be distributed by e-mail.

General Information

Language: English
Levels: DR , MSC
Frequency: Yearly recurring

Examination

Type: graded semester performance

Full presence in the course is mandatory; grading will be according to a short, written report (6-8 pages) on one of the topics of the course (workload: about 8 hours) and according to student contributions during the course.

Registration & Places

Max Places: 14

Course Components

Type	Title	Time & Place	Hours
lecture with exercise	Genomics of Environmental Adaptation Blockkurs: 8.2.2021 - 12.2.2021 Ort der Veranstaltung: EPD01 / WSL Birmensdorf	No time listed	40 h semesterly