This is an announcement for the workshop on Phylogenetic Tools For Cetacean Studies that will take place a day before the conference initiates. The workshop website for specific information and materials is: http://sites.google.com/site/phylogeneticcetacean/ *Theme of the workshop*: Two simple phylogenetic tools for cetacean studies: analyzes of independent contrasts and conservation priorities. In 1985 Felsenstein work on "Phylogenetic Independence" changed the way biologists nowadays test hypotheses in comparative studies of behavior, acoustics, conservation, physiology, etc, emphasizing the need to account for phylogenetic relationship among species. Nevertheless, many mammalian studies continue to use standard statistical methods, often ignoring the problem of non-independence. Standard regression analyses fail to acknowledge that similarity in the character in question may be due to common ancestry. Failing to account for known dependencies among related species can give misleading results, which is why methods such as 'independent contrasts' are becoming the standard for analyzing how parameters relate to one another. Phylogenies also can inform on conservation. Much information exists on extinction risk of species (e.g. IUCN categories), but risk of extinction alone may not be a good guide to how to allocate conservation effort. Species may differ dramatically in the unique evolutionary history they preserve. For example the duck billed platypus represent an ancient lineage represented very few extant species. Extinction of such species would thus erase much unique evolutionary history. In contrast, any single species of Hawaiian Drosophila represents relatively little unique evolutionary history for much of its history is preserved in numerous close relatives. We will discuss a newly developed method that uses both extinction risk, as well as phylogenetic diversity, to assess conservation priorities. We will provide attendees with data matrices that will be used in the workshop. We will demonstrate how the evolutionary analysis packet Mesquite can be used to analyze phylogenetically independent contrasts, and to assess conservation priorities. We hope that the workshop provides people with a better understanding of the importance and use of phylogenetics to address evolutionary questions in our field, and in particular familiarize attendees with the use of two simple but important methods. Organizers: Laura J. May-Collado & Ingi Agnarsson Date: October 11, 2009 Time: 9am - 12 a.m. (Half Day) Location: RM 202 Cost: $25 CAN Registration cost will include hot and cold drinks, snacks, and visual equipment. -- Laura J. May-Collado, Ph.D. Associate Researcher & Instructor Department of Biology University of Puerto Rico, Rio Piedras Office CN326 Phone:1-787-7640000 Ext2584 Affiliate Assistant Professor Department of Environmental Science & Policy; George Mason University Email: lmaycollado@gmail.com Personal Home Page: www.delphinids.com