Evolutionary ecology examines how the abiotic and biotic environment shapes evolutionary dynamics for organisms in terrestrial, aquatic and marine ecosystems. This course explores fundamental concepts and techniques pertaining to: (1) Microevolution (natural selection, quantitative genetics, life history evolution, population dynamics), (2) Macroevolution (phylogenetics, speciation, coevolution), and (3) Biotic interactions.
Additional Requirements for Graduate Students: Graduate students will be expected to do extra weekly readings
that cover specific topics more in-depth (undergraduate readings
will typically be reviews, while graduate students will also be
expected to read a minimum of one empirical paper per week).
Graduate students will also be required to write a term paper
that will be an analysis or re-analysis of published data, using
evolutionary perspectives gained in the course.
Athena Title
Evolutionary Ecology
Prerequisite
ECOL(BIOL) 3500-3500L or ECOL 3505H-3505L or GENE 3000 or permission of department
Semester Course Offered
Offered spring
Grading System
A - F (Traditional)
Student Learning Outcomes
Students will examine how evolutionary and ecological processes interact to generate the diversity of life on Earth.
Students will be trained in the scientific process and scientific writing via (a) case studies illustrating basic principles in evolutionary ecology, (b) weekly response papers to publications from the primary literature, and (c) the development of a grant proposal on a relevant topic that the student selects in consultation with instructors.
Students will learn about fundamental, applied and cutting-edge research questions across the domains of evolutionary ecology.
Topical Outline
Intro & Natural selection and adaptive evolution.
Discussion Topic: Natural selection and how to read a paper
Microevolution: Estimating selection in experiments and natural populations.
Discussion Topic: Natural selection
Microevolution: Local adaptation.
Discussion Topic: Fitness tradeoffs
