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

A useful Nature Education article on heritability


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 FOR EXAM 3 will be held on Monday Apr. 7rd (BPB 131), and Tuesday Apr. 8th (PBB 131) from 7-9 PM. Please attempt the problem set (see below) before attending one of these sessions.

PROBLEM SET FOR EXAM 3

Pdficon small.gif PROBLEM SET EXAM 3
Pdficon small.gif PROBLEM SET SOLUTIONS EXAM 3


STUDY GUIDES

Pdficon small.gif STUDY GUIDE FOR EXAM 1
Pdficon small.gif REVISED STUDY GUIDE FOR EXAM 2
Pdficon small.gif STUDY GUIDE FOR EXAM 3



PRACTICE EXAMS
Dr Caira

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

Dr Henry

Pdficon small.gif PRACTICE EXAM 3



Evolution in the News

An interesting Nature article on heritability

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 Pdficon small.gif Charles Darwin and natural selection, part 1 Ch. 1 & 11
19 T Apr 1 Pdficon small.gif Natural selection part 2 Ch. 11,12,13
20 Th Apr 3 Pdficon small.gif Adaptation; Life history evolution, part 1 Ch. 13 & 14
21 T Apr 3 Pdficon small.gif Life history evolution, part 2 Ch. 14
22 Th Apr 10 EXAM #3 (covers lectures 15-21)
23 T Apr 15 Pdficon small.gif Sexual selection (lecture by Dr. Marta Wells) Ch. 15
24 Th Apr 17 Pdficon small.gif Levels of selection (lecture by Jimmy Bernot) Ch. 16
25 T Apr 22 Pdficon small.gif Species and species concepts Ch. 17 & 18
26 Th Apr 24 Pdficon small.gif 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
Th May 8, 8 am EXAM #4 (covers lectures 23-28)