Difference between revisions of "Evolutionary Biology Fall 2012"
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<span style="font-size: small">'''Meeting Time:''' Tuesdays and Thursdays, 12:30-1:45 in BRAUN 124<br> | <span style="font-size: small">'''Meeting Time:''' Tuesdays and Thursdays, 12:30-1:45 in BRAUN 124<br> | ||
| − | + | Instructor: Chris Simon, Professor EEB | |
| − | + | Office: Biopharm 305D, phone 6-4640 | |
| − | + | Lab: Biopharm 323 & 325, phone 6-3947 | |
| − | + | e-mail: chris.simon@uconn.edu | |
| − | + | e-mail is the best place to leave messages. | |
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| − | + | Office hours: Flexible except in the morning before our class. See me after class or send me an e-mail to arrange a meeting. I encourage quick questions by electronic mail. With longer questions or many questions, please come to see me or your TA, Colin Carlso. Don’t wait until the day before an exam! | |
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| − | + | Teaching Assistant: Colin Carlson | |
| − | + | e-mail: colin.carlson@uconn.edu | |
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| − | + | Class Website: http://hydrodictyon.eeb.uconn.edu/eebedia/index.php/Category:EEB_Courses | |
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| − | + | Grade: The goal of this class is to teach you the basic principles of evolution and to give you an appreciation for the science. It is important to me that you learn the material. I hate to assign grades but they are required. Therefore I am trying an experiment this semester to try to lessen the pressure on the midterm and enhance your learning experience. Each Friday I will post a Study Guide and ask you a few questions from that study guide as a quiz at the end of class on the following Thursday. Each Wednesday, TA Colin Carlson will run a study guide review session. We’ll grade the quizzes and return them to you by the following Thursday. Hopefully these quizzes will serve to prepare you for the first midterm and to ensure that your grade is not based on your performance on only the midterm and the final. | |
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| − | + | EEB 245: There will be a series of ten quizzes (as described above) and two one-hour exams covering each half of the course (listed on the syllabus) and a comprehensive one-hour synthetic final exam. The second one-hour exam will be given in the same two-hour time block as the synthetic final. The quizzes will count 15% of your total grade, the first exam 35% and the second hour exam plus the final will count 25% each. | |
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| − | + | EEB 245W: If you are registered for EEB 245W, 75% of the final course grade will be determined by your lecture exams (as above) and 25% by your term paper. As required by University regulations, an F in the W part of the course will result in an F for the entire course. At least two drafts of your writing assignment must be successfully completed to pass the course. A detailed set of instructions will be provided and W students will be assigned a W instructor during the first week of class. | |
| − | : | + | Text: Futuyma, D. J. 2009. Evolution. Second Edition. Sinauer Publications, Sunderland, Mass. http://www.sinauer.com/detail.php?id=2238. The UCONN coop should have lots of used copies. Please read assigned chapters prior to the class for which they are scheduled. Additional supplementary readings may be assigned during the semester. See also new value options from Sinauer: http://www.sinauer.com/detail.php?id=2238#tions |
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| − | + | The syllabus always evolves. I will periodically send updated versions which track our true progress and introduce late breaking topics. | |
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==Evolution in the News== | ==Evolution in the News== | ||
Revision as of 18:37, 25 August 2012
EEB 2245: Evolutionary Biology
Meeting Time: Tuesdays and Thursdays, 12:30-1:45 in BRAUN 124
Instructor: Chris Simon, Professor EEB
Office: Biopharm 305D, phone 6-4640
Lab: Biopharm 323 & 325, phone 6-3947
e-mail: chris.simon@uconn.edu
e-mail is the best place to leave messages.
Office hours: Flexible except in the morning before our class. See me after class or send me an e-mail to arrange a meeting. I encourage quick questions by electronic mail. With longer questions or many questions, please come to see me or your TA, Colin Carlso. Don’t wait until the day before an exam!
Teaching Assistant: Colin Carlson e-mail: colin.carlson@uconn.edu
Class Website: http://hydrodictyon.eeb.uconn.edu/eebedia/index.php/Category:EEB_Courses
Grade: The goal of this class is to teach you the basic principles of evolution and to give you an appreciation for the science. It is important to me that you learn the material. I hate to assign grades but they are required. Therefore I am trying an experiment this semester to try to lessen the pressure on the midterm and enhance your learning experience. Each Friday I will post a Study Guide and ask you a few questions from that study guide as a quiz at the end of class on the following Thursday. Each Wednesday, TA Colin Carlson will run a study guide review session. We’ll grade the quizzes and return them to you by the following Thursday. Hopefully these quizzes will serve to prepare you for the first midterm and to ensure that your grade is not based on your performance on only the midterm and the final.
EEB 245: There will be a series of ten quizzes (as described above) and two one-hour exams covering each half of the course (listed on the syllabus) and a comprehensive one-hour synthetic final exam. The second one-hour exam will be given in the same two-hour time block as the synthetic final. The quizzes will count 15% of your total grade, the first exam 35% and the second hour exam plus the final will count 25% each.
EEB 245W: If you are registered for EEB 245W, 75% of the final course grade will be determined by your lecture exams (as above) and 25% by your term paper. As required by University regulations, an F in the W part of the course will result in an F for the entire course. At least two drafts of your writing assignment must be successfully completed to pass the course. A detailed set of instructions will be provided and W students will be assigned a W instructor during the first week of class.
Text: Futuyma, D. J. 2009. Evolution. Second Edition. Sinauer Publications, Sunderland, Mass. http://www.sinauer.com/detail.php?id=2238. The UCONN coop should have lots of used copies. Please read assigned chapters prior to the class for which they are scheduled. Additional supplementary readings may be assigned during the semester. See also new value options from Sinauer: http://www.sinauer.com/detail.php?id=2238#tions
The syllabus always evolves. I will periodically send updated versions which track our true progress and introduce late breaking topics.
Evolution in the News
Peppered moths vindicated! - 28 February 2012
Darwin's long-lost fossils - 17 January 2012
NEW Visiting Evolutionary Biologists and Friends
Lecture Syllabus
Please read assigned chapters, as indicated below, prior to class
| Day | Date | Topic | Text Readings | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Part I | Jan 17 - Mar 1 | Patterns of Evolution | Dr. Janine Caira | |
| 1 | T | Jan 17 | Introduction to the Geological Time Scale; the Fossil Record | Ch. 4 (pgs 73-77) |
| 2 | Th | Jan 19 | Life in the Precambrian; Evolution of the Metazoa | Ch. 5 (pgs 101-108) |
| 3 | T | Jan 24 | Cambrian explosion & Life in the Paleozoic | Ch. 5 (pgs 108-115) |
| 4 | Th | Jan 26 | Life in the Mesozoic | Ch. 5 (pgs 115-121) |
| 5 | T | Jan 31 | Life in the Cenozoic | Ch. 5 (pgs 121-131) |
| 6 | Th | Feb 2 | Evolution of primates | Ch. 4 (pgs 88-91) & Ch. 6 (pgs 147-150) |
| M | Feb 6 | Review Session for Exam 1 6-8 PM |
BioPhysics Building Rm 131 | |
| 7 | T | Feb 7 | Evolution of biodiversity & extinction | Ch. 7 |
| T | Feb 7 | Review Session for Exam 1 6-8 PM |
BioPhysics Building Rm 131 | |
| 8 | Th | Feb 9 | EXAM #1 Example of Exam 1 (from 2010) Final Study Guide for Exam 1 |
Covers Lectures 1-6 |
| 9 | T | Feb 14 | Characters, homology & homoplasy | Ch. 3 |
| 10 | Th | Feb 16 | Systematics & reconstructing evolutionary history | Ch. 2 |
| 11 | T | Feb 21 | Systematics & reconstructing evolutionary history (cont'd) | Ch. 2 |
| 12 | Th | Feb 23 | Biogeography & major patterns of distribution | Ch. 6 |
| M | Feb 27 | Review Session for Exam 2 6-8 PM |
BioPhysics Building Rm 131 | |
| 13 | T | Feb 28 | Continental drift & historical biogeography | Ch. 6 |
| T | Feb 28 | Review Session for Exam 2 6-8 PM |
BioPhysics Building Rm 131 | |
| Part II | Mar 6 - Apr 26 | Processes of Evolution | Dr. Charles Henry | |
| 14 | Th | Mar 1 | EXAM #2 Example of Exam 2 (from 2010)FINAL Study Guide for Exam 2 Tree Exercises for Exam 2 (with answers) |
Covers Lectures 7 & 9-13 |
| 15 | T | Mar 6 | Populations, variation, & the Hardy-Weinberg principle
|
Ch. 1 (pp 7-11) & Ch. 9 |
| 16 | Th | Mar 8 | Microevolution and the origin of variation: mutation & gene flow
|
Ch. 8 |
| T | Mar 13 | SPRING BREAK - no class | ||
| Th | Mar 15 | SPRING BREAK - no class | ||
| 17 | T | Mar 20 | Agents of evolutionary change: migration and genetic drift
|
Ch. 9 & 10 |
| 18 | Th | Mar 22 | Charles Darwin and natural selection
|
Ch. 1 & 11 |
| 19 | T | Mar 27 | Natural selection and phenotypic evolution
|
Ch. 12 & 13 |
| 20 | Th | Mar 29 | Adaptation; introduction to life-history evolution
|
Ch. 11, 14, & 22 |
| M | Apr 2 | Review Session for Exam 3 6-8 PM |
BioPhysics Building Rm 131 | |
| 21 | T | Apr 3 | Life history evolution
|
Ch. 14 |
| T | Apr 3 | Review Session for Exam 3 6-8 PM |
BioPhysics Building Rm 131 | |
| 22 | Th | Apr 5 | EXAM #3 You may bring a calculator (NO iphone/smartphone) FINAL Study Guide for Exam 3 (first 7 lectures) |
Covers Lectures 15-21 |
| 23 | T | Apr 10 | Sexual selection
|
Ch. 15 |
| 24 | Th | Apr 12 | Levels of selection; cooperation & altruism
|
Ch. 11 & 16 |
| 25 | T | Apr 17 | Macroevolution: species and species concepts
|
Ch. 17 & 18 |
| 26 | Th | Apr 19 | Ecotypes, clines, and allopatric speciation
|
Ch. 17 & 18 |
| 27 | T | Apr 24 | Allopatric & non-allopatric speciation
|
Ch. 18 |
| 28 | Th | Apr 26 | The mystery of sexual reproduction; coevolution
|
Ch. 15 & 19 |
| M | Apr 30 | Review Session for Final Exam 6-8 PM |
BioPhysics Building Rm 131 | |
| T | May 1 | Review Session for Final Exam 6-8 PM |
BioPhysics Building Rm 131 | |
| 29 | Th | May 3, 8 AM - 10AM |
FINAL EXAM NO calculators, NO iphone/smartphone : FINAL Study Guide for Exam 4 (last 6 lectures) |
Covers Lectures 23-28 |
