EEB 449 -- EVOLUTION

Spring Semester, 2007

Instructors

Charles S. Henry, TLS 481 (charles.henry@uconn.edu)

Carl D. Schlichting, TLS 366 (schlicht@uconn.edu)

Lectures Tuesday/Thursday 1:45 - 3:00 PM, TLS 179

Syllabus and General Information

Under many of the lecture periods below are assigned readings. These articles (for discussion) should be read before the lecture, since they will be discussed during the lecture period under which they appear.

Links are included below. Most of the articles are available directly as PDFs. The others will take you to the abstract page and you can get the PDF from there. Let me know if you have difficulties retrieving them.

Lecture 1, January 16 (Schlichting). Portrait and Landscape visuals.  References.

Lecture 2, January 18 (Schlichting).  References.

Reading for January 23: Ryan, Frank P. (2006) Genomic creativity and natural selection: a modern synthesis. Biological Journal of the Linnean Society 88 (4), 655–672.

Lecture 3, January 23 (Schlichting).  References; population genetics example using sickle-cell data.

Reading for January 30. Grant, P. R. and B. R. Grant. 1995. Predicting microevolutionary responses to directional selection on heritable variation. Evolution 49: 241-251.

Reading for February 8.  Bittner, T. D. and R. B. King. 2003. Gene flow and melanism in garter snakes revisited: a comparison of molecular markers and island vs. coalescent models. Biological Journal of the Linnean Society 79: 389-399.

Reading for February 13.  Jimenez-Ambriz, G., C. Petit, I. Bourrie, S. Dubois, I. Olivieri and O. Ronce. 2007. Life history variation in the heavy metal tolerant plant Thlaspi caerulescens growing in a network of contaminated and noncontaminated sites in southern France: role of gene flow, selection and phenotypic plasticity. New Phytologist 173: 199-215.

Project 1 -- Carl Schlichting (due Friday 23 February) (40 points):

Genetic Assimilation (part 1)

Schlichting: The role of phenotypic plasticity in diversification

Lecture 1, February 15 (Henry).  Species and species concepts.

Lecture 2, February  20 (Henry).  Allopatric speciation.

Lecture 3, February 22 (Henry).  Ecological speciation, hybrid zones, and reinforcement.

Lecture 4, February 27 (Henry).  Sympatric speciation: patterns, theory, and examples from nature.

Readings (3) for completion by the end of  Lecture 5 (Henry):

1. Grant, P.R. & Grant, B.R. (2006) Species before speciation is complete. Annals of the Missouri Botanical Garden, 93, 94-102.
2. Seehausen, O. (2006) African cichlid fish: a model system in adaptive radiation research. Proceedings of the Royal Society B-Biological Sciences, 273, 1987-1998.
3. Rieseberg, L.H., Church, S.A. & Morjan, C.L. (2004) Integration of populations and differentiation of species. New Phytologist, 161, 59-69.

Lecture 5, March 1 (Henry).  Speciation rates, speciation genes, and introduction to levels of selection.

Take-home Hour Exam -- due 15 March

Carl's questions (70 points total)
Charlie's questions (30 points total)
Readings (2) for completion by the end of  Lecture  7 (Henry):

1. Hull, D.L. (1980) Individuality and selection. Annual Review of Ecology and Systematics, 11, 311-332.
2. Hamilton, W.D. (1963) The evolution of altruistic behavior. American Naturalist, 97, 354-356.

Lecture 6, March 13 (Henry).  Levels of selection and conflict among levels.

Lecture 7, March 15 (Henry).  The evolution of cooperation.

Lecture 8, March 20 (Henry).  Cooperation without kinship; the maintenance of sexual reproduction.

Lecture 9, March 22 (Henry).  Sexual selection I

Project 2 -- Charlie Henry (due April 5th) (40 points):

 Atmar, W. (1991) On the role of males. Animal Behaviour, 41, 195-205.

Lecture 10, March 27 (Henry).  Sexual selection II; introduction to life history evolution.

Lecture 11, March 29 (Henry).  Life history evolution I

Lecture 12,  April 3 (Henry).  Life history evolution II

Lecture 13, April 5 (Henry).  The uses of phylogenetic information

Lecture 14, April 10 (Henry).   Comparative trend analysis and phylogenetic trait analysis  

Fire Drill Lecture (Schlichting).  Macroevolution

Take-home Final Exam -- due 3 May

Carl's questions (30 points total), including a copy of the paper to read
Charlie's questions (70 points total)