Evolution - Topics & Lectures

Topics arranged conceptually

​1.   Evolution: what?

A.  Evolution, the fact: evidence

B.  Evolution, the theories: history of evolutionary thought

i.          Pre-Darwin

ii.         Darwinian Natural Selection

iii.       The modern synthesis

2.    Evolution: how?

A.   Blending vs. Mendelian inheritance

B.  Hardy-Weinberg equilibrium.

i.          Mutations

ii.         Migration

iii.       Small pops: drift, founder effects

iv.        Non-random mating

v.         Selection

vi.        Interactions

C.  Population genetics at more than one locus

D.  Quantitative genetics

3.   Evolution: so what?

A.  At a given point in time

i.         Adaptation

ii.        Units of selection

iii.       Constraints and trade-offs

iv.       Co-evolution

v.        Life-history

vi.       Kin Selection

vii.      Sexual Selection

viii      Parasites and disease

ix.       Parental care

B.  Throughout time

i.          Speciation

a.    Allopatric, sympatric and parapatric

b.    Gradual or punctuated?

ii.         Classification and phylogeny

a.   Phenetics and cladistics

b.   Methods of analysis

iii.       A brief history of life

a.   Origins

b.   Pre-Cambrian life

c.   The Cambrian so-called explosion (perhaps in retrospect)

d.   Heterochrony and the vertebrate lineage

e.   Extinctions: mass and not so massive.

4.   Evolution: why?

Something to think about during the entire course​​​​