NOVA-410 Biological Conesequences of Selection

Credits (ECTS):5

Course responsible:Peer Berg

Campus / Online:Taught campus Ås

Teaching language:Engelsk

Course frequency:The course was offered as a NOVA course in 2023. New courses will be announced on the NOVA website.

Nominal workload:

  • 85 hours preparatory reading
  • 35 hours lectures/group work during course
  • 5 hours preparing the presentation at the course

Teaching and exam period:The course is not given in 2020

About this course

The course is organised as a joint NOVA PhD and master's course.

The objective of this course is to provide a platform for understanding the biological changes occurring when applying (artificial) selection. The student should be able to reflect on the consequences from a scientific point of view and understand the physiological changes taking place.

The course will cover the following topics:

  • Ethical aspects of animal breeding
  • Growth and development - genetic scaling (Taylor)
  • Maternal effects, social effects and group selection
  • Genetic variation of behavioral traits
  • Genotyp x Environment interactions
  • Robustness, trade-offs and adaptive capacity
  • Modelling and the genetics of feed efficiency

Programme Outline

The course week will consist of lectures, group work and seminars given by the PhD students. Teaching and tutoring will be distributed equally among the four main teachers. Course days will start with lectures until lunch and group work and presentations by students after lunch. The course will start Monday morning and end Friday afternoon.

Pre--Campus Assignment(s)

In parallel with the pre-reading the student will prepare a draft of the presentation of the paper he/she is asked to present.

Learning outcome

After the course the PhD students should be able to:

  • Reflect on the ethical aspects of animal breeding
  • Summarize the consequences of artificial selection
  • Predict direct, maternal and correlated effects of selection
  • Describe the concept of social effects and group selection
  • Apply the methods of genetic size scaling
  • Understand mechanisms related to feed efficiency
  • Describe the effect of selection on behavioral traits
  • The course will include a mixture of lectures, group work and presentations.
  • Pre-requirements are a M.Sc. in Quantitative genetics, population genetics or a similar background.
  • Examination form will be a presentation of a key paper (provided to the student in due time before the course). Pass/fail.
  • Participation at the on-site course.
  • The course is not given in 2020.

    The course is organised as a joint NOVA PhD and master's course. For a course description of the master's level course, please see the course with course code NOVA-302.

    The PhD course is organised by Peer Berg, NMBU. Teahcers from NMBU, the Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences (SLU) and AgroParisTech will teach the course. Please see the course information webpage on NOVA's website for more information on the course:

    www.nmbu.no/en/students/nova/students/phd-courses/phd-courses-2019/node/36259

    • 35 hours lectures/group work during course
    • 5 hours preparing the presentation at the course
  • Students on PhD level have number one prioritiy.

    Master's students must apply for admission to the course that is given on master's level with the course code NOVA-302.

  • Passed / Not Passed
  • Pre-requirements are a M.Sc. in Quantitative genetics, population genetics or a similar background.