Evolutionary Biology Spring 2014
EEB 2245
Evolutionary Biology
Meeting Time: Tuesdays and Thursdays, 9:30-10:45 in TLS154
Textbook: Futuyma, D.J. 2013. Evolution. 3rd ed. Sinauer Associates, Inc. (ISBN 978-1-60535-115-5)
This website contains information for the lecture portion of the course only. For the W portion of the course, click here
Contents
Instructors
First half of the course, 21 January - 6 March
Dr. Janine Caira
Office: TLS 479/481
Phone: 486-4060
E-mail: janine.caira@uconn.edu
Office hours: By arrangement
Second half of the course, 11 March - 1 May
Dr. Charles Henry
Office: TLS 479/481
Phone: 486-4450
E-mail: charles.henry@uconn.edu
Office hours: By arrangement
Teaching Assistants
James Bernot
Office: BioPharm 478
Phone: 486-1882
Email: james.bernot@uconn.edu
Students A-K
Office hours: By arrangement
Tim Moore
Office: TLS 363
Phone: 486-4638
Email: timothy.e.moore@uconn.edu
Students L-Z
Office hours: By arrangement
Grading
EEB 2245: Your grade will be based on your performance in four lecture exams. Your lowest
score on the first 3 exams will be dropped, and your scores on the two remaining exams and the final exam will each constitute one-third of your final grade. University regulations require that students who miss the final exam without an excuse from the Dean of Students receive an F for that exam. Thus, you are required to take the final exam. Note: because you are allowed to drop your lowest score, we will not give make-up exams.
EEB 2245W: Your final grade in the lecture portion of the course will be calculated as above.
This grade will constitute 75% of your final course grade. Your grade in the W part of
the course, as determined by your “W” instructor, will constitute the remaining 25% of your final course grade, except that an F in the W part of the course will result in an F for the entire course. An F in the lecture part of the course will also result in an F for the entire course. Refer to the 2245W website (http://hydrodictyon.eeb.uconn.edu/eebedia/index.php/EEB2245W_Spring_2014) for further information. Dr. Elizabeth Jockusch (BioPharm 305B; tel: 486–4452; elizabeth.jockusch@uconn.edu) is the coordinator of the W part of the course.
Course Resources
Evolution in the News
Lecture Syllabus
Please read assigned chapters, as indicated below, prior to class
Day | Date | Topic | Text Readings | |
---|---|---|---|---|
Part I | Jan 21 - Mar 6 | Patterns of Evolution | Dr. Janine Caira | |
1 | T | Jan 21 | Introduction to the Geological Time Scale; the Fossil Record | Ch. 4 (pgs 77-81) |
2 | Th | Jan 23 | Life in the Precambrian; Evolution of the Metazoa | Ch. 5 (pgs 103-110) |
3 | T | Jan 28 | Cambrian explosion & Life in the Paleozoic | Ch. 5 (pgs 111-119) |
4 | Th | Jan 30 | Life in the Mesozoic | Ch. 5 (pgs 119-125) |
5 | T | Feb 4 | Life in the Cenozoic | Ch. 5 (pgs 1215-132) |
6 | Th | Feb 6 | Evolution of primates | Ch. 4 (pgs 90-95) & |
7 | T | Feb 11 | Evolution of biodiversity & extinction | Ch. 7 |
8 | Th | Feb 13 | EXAM #1 (covers lecture 1-6) | |
9 | T | Feb 18 | Characters, homology & homoplasy | Ch. 3 |
10 | Th | Feb 20 | Systematics & reconstructing evolutionary history | Ch. 2 |
11 | T | Feb 25 | Evolution and Development | Ch. 21 |
12 | Th | Feb 27 | Biogeography and major patterns of distribution | Ch. 6 |
13 | T | Mar 4 | Continental drift & historical biogeography | Ch. 6 |
14 | Th | Mar 6 | EXAM #2 (covers lecture 7 & 9-13) | |
Part II | Mar 11 - May 1 | Processes of Evolution | Dr. Charles Henry | |
15 | T | Mar 11 | Populations, variation, & the Hardy-Weinberg principle | Ch. 1 (7-12), 9, 13 |
16 | Th | Mar 13 | Agents of evolutionary change: mutation & gene flow | Ch. 9 |
T | Mar 18 | SPRING BREAK- no class |
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Th | Mar 20 | SPRING BREAK- no class |
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17 | T | Mar 25 | Sampling error:genetic drift and the bottleneck/founder effects | Ch. 10 |
18 | Th | Mar 27 | Charles Darwin and natural selection, part 1 | Ch. 1 & 11 |
19 | T | Apr 1 | Natural selection part 2 | Ch. 11,12,13 |
20 | Th | Apr 3 | Life history evolution, part 1 | Ch. 13 & 14 |
21 | T | Apr 3 | Life history evolution, part 2 | Ch. 14 |
22 | Th | Apr 10 | EXAM #3 (covers lectures 15-21) | |
23 | T | Apr 15 | Sexual selection (guest lecture) | Ch. 15 |
24 | Th | Apr 17 | Levels of selection (guest lecture) | Ch. 16 |
25 | T | Apr 22 | Species and species concepts | Ch. 17 & 18 |
26 | Th | Apr 24 | Geographic variation, clines, and allopatric speciation | Ch. 17 & 18 |
27 | T | Apr 29 | Non-allopatric speciation | Ch. 18 & 22 |
28 | Th | May 1 | Evolution above the species level | Ch. 22 |
Date not yet set | EXAM #4 (covers lectures 23-28) |