NCSU

Module 3: What is Diversity?

By Carlos C. Goller

BIT Metagenomics team!

We hope you enjoyed the weekend and are ready for a new module in the course. Module 3 will dive into diversity and ways to measure it. If you are still wrapping up your KBase analyses, let us know what you found in the forum. KBase is a powerful platform for analyses of whole genome shotgun sequencing (WGS) data. This week, we will dig deeper into how we measure diversity and prepare libraries for sequencing.

Our Unit 3 checklist can be found here.

Checklist
Checklist icon in gray box. Purchased from The Noun Project.

We have a new article to read! Please check the reading list and the link on Moodle under Module 3. This article is a little more complex, and we will need to work together and ask questions using Perusall when necessary.

 

In the lab this week, we will check our libraries and prepare a pooled 16S/ITS library for sequencing.

Overview

What is diversity? In this module will define alpha and beta diversity and explore why researchers use diversity metrics to describe microbial communities.

Upon successful completion of this module, you will be able to:

  • MO 3.1. Define alpha and beta diversity.

  • MO 3.2. Explain three different diversity metrics.

  • MO 3.3. Identify and describe the limitations and assumptions of certain diversity metrics.

To complete this module, you will need to:

  • Watch Module 3 videos

  • Read three short blog posts

  • Complete TopHat questions for Module 3

  • Share updates on your podcast in the Forum

  • Annotate article 2.