Evolutionary Developmental Biology and Morphology

Instructors: Stefan Pittner, Walter Stoiber, Peter Steinbacher

The great morphological diversity of organisms is astonishing. During phylogenesis, all changes in morphology and anatomy came about through modifications of developmental processes. Before this background, this course will focus on aspects of vertebrate development to enable a wider understanding of how animal bodies develop and how changes during development can lead to new phenotypes. Together with a detailed analysis of the functional design of different vertebrate clades, this will provide you with a sound basic knowledge of a multitude of aspects regarding evolutionary development and evolutionary morphology and morphogenesis.

The theoretical inputs will be complemented with a laboratory course that will introduce you to important modern techniques used in developmental biology and histology.