Course Description
An advanced treatment of evolutionary biology from the level of
genes to populations to species.
Additional Requirements for Graduate Students:
Graduate students will be required to produce an integrated,
synthetic, and critical review of primary research that is
extended and applied towards a topic in evolutionary biology.
Athena Title
Advanced Evolutionary Biology
Prerequisite
GENE 3000-3000D or GENE 3000H or GENE 3080H
Semester Course Offered
Offered spring
Grading System
A - F (Traditional)
Student Learning Outcomes
- By the end of this course, you should be able to analyze and evaluate the conceptual underpinnings of modern evolutionary biology.
- By the end of this course, you should be able to read, evaluate and assess both classic and current primary literature in evolutionary biology.
- By the end of this course, you should be able to characterize the fundamental and outstanding questions in evolutionary biology, and will be able to analyze how theoretical, experimental, and comparative approaches can be used to answer these questions.
- By the end of this course, you should be able to consider, engage and analyze opposing viewpoints of evolutionary change and evaluate the credibility of information about the nature of evolutionary change in populations. Then, using sound scientific reasoning, you should be able to support arguments centered on evolutionary theory.
- By the end of this course, you should be able to support and evaluate evolutionary scenarios using quantitative data. You should be able to interpret statistical and mathematical data to inform an understanding of evolutionary processes. And you should be able to use mathematical reasoning to predict evolutionary outcomes. You should be able to utilize appropriate experimental methodology to address theoretical questions in evolutionary biology.
- By the end of this course, you will be able to communicate and express your understanding of evolutionary biology, in both written and oral form. Students will work on a written semester-long research project based on a fundamental concept in evolutionary biology. Students will improve their written abilities by submitting scaffolded writing assignments and drafts where the student will receive extensive faculty feedback on writing before the next draft is submitted. Similarly, the student will prepare an oral presentation to be presented to the class as a whole. The oral presentation will be presented in draft form to the class and the student will receive detailed feedback on the effectiveness of the oral presentation from both faculty and students. Then the student will present a final revised version of the oral presentation to the class for a grade.
- The final project in this course is a literature-based research project on understanding the genetic odyssey of a selected human group and how genetics and evolution have shaped that group in relation to other human groups. By the end of this course, you should be able to consider the role of evolutionary forces in shaping worldwide human genetic variation and understand how genetics provides a framework for understanding the role of race in humans and its inadequacies as a way of describing human genetic variation. These should enable you to understand how genetics and evolution shape the interdependence of humans in a global society.
- Successful students will have developed a strong foundation for more advanced courses in population genetics and evolutionary biology and for research in evolutionary biology at the graduate level, including the ability to plan and execute research projects in evolutionary biology.
Topical Outline
- Microevolution
- Measuring Genetic Diversity
- Hardy-Weinberg
- Mutation
- Natural Selection
- Adaptation
- Fitness
- Group and Kin Selection
- Sexual Selection
- Inbreeding
- Genetic Drift
- Gene Flow
- Macroevolution
- Speciation
- Phylogenetics
- Coevolution
- Molecular and Genome Evolution
Institutional Competencies
Analytical Thinking
The ability to reason, interpret, analyze, and solve problems from a wide array of authentic contexts.
Communication
The ability to effectively develop, express, and exchange ideas in written, oral, interpersonal, or visual form.
Critical Thinking
The ability to pursue and comprehensively evaluate information before accepting or establishing a conclusion, decision, or action.
Social Awareness & Responsibility
The capacity to understand the interdependence of people, communities, and self in a global society.
