Evolutionary Biology Spring 2014

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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



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: TLS 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

Pdficon small.gif EEB2245 syllabus
Pdficon small.gif Fossil Record Mnemonics



Exam Resources

*NOTE* SECOND EXAM: The second exam will be on Thursday Mar. 6th. The exam will be based on material covered from Feb. 11th through Mar. 4th (see syllabus below).

Review sessions will be held on Monday Mar. 3rd (BPB 131), and Tuesday Mar. 4th (PB 38) from 7-9 PM. Please attempt the problem set (see below) before attending one of these sessions.

PROBLEM SET

Pdficon small.gif PROBLEM SET


STUDY GUIDES

Pdficon small.gif STUDY GUIDE FOR EXAM 1
Pdficon small.gif REVISED STUDY GUIDE FOR EXAM 2



PRACTICE EXAMS

Pdficon small.gif PRACTICE EXAM 1
Pdficon small.gif PRACTICE EXAM 2



Evolution in the News

Evolution timeline animation

Bird-eating catfish

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 125-132)
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 Pdficon small.gif Populations, variation, & the Hardy-Weinberg principle Ch. 1 (7-12), 9, 13
16 Th Mar 13 Pdficon small.gif Agents of evolutionary change: mutation & gene flow Ch. 9
T Mar 18 SPRING BREAK- no class
Th Mar 20 SPRING BREAK- no class
17 T Mar 25 Pdficon small.gif 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 (lecture by Dr. Marta Wells) Ch. 15
24 Th Apr 17 Levels of selection (lecture by Jimmy Bernot) 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)