BIOLOGY 254 EVOLUTION OF BIOLOGICAL SYSTEMS

TEXTBOOK: Evolution by Patterson and Colin

COURSE DESCRIPTION: A study of the emergence and history of life on earth. Emphasis is put on the mechanisms that result in evolutionary change at the cellular, population, and ecosystem level. Areas covered include genetics, population ecology, speciation, and extinction.

COURSE OBJECTIVES: Students will demonstrate understanding of

• historical context of evolutionary thought
• nature of scientific hypothesis and theory
• geologic time scales
• population genetics
• processes of speciation
• phylogenic relationships of organisms
• species interactions and relationships to diversity in ecosystems
• major steps in plant evolution
• major steps in animal evolution
• role of extinction in the history of life

TOPICS COVERED:

• Theory and Scientific Method
• History of Evolutionary Thought
• Darwin and Evolution
• Modelling Evolution
• Definition of species
• Variation
• Mendelian Genetics
• DNA processes
• Genes and Variation
• Mutations and mutation types
• Natural selection
• Hardy-Weinberg
• Selection examples
• Neutral Evolution
• Gene Families
• Speciation
• Galapagos
• Classification
• Geologic Time
• Formation of earth and early atmosphere
• Prokaryotes to Eukaryotes
• History of Life
• Human Evolution

• Philosophy of Science