Index

Main Page

Readings

Assignments

Literature

Links

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Lecture Schedule 2011

Please remember to download and print off the evaluation sheets before each lab session where fellow students are presenting.

Please note that I often shift the schedule slightly as the term progresses and as need arises. When a lecture title is high-lighted, click on it to download the pdf of lecture overheads. I do update lectures yearly so if you downloaded last year's notes please replace them with current versions. I will try to make lecture pdfs available prior to the actual lecture (but sometimes I am revising lectures into the wee hours of the night immediately preceding the lecture ...). Because of space constraints I may delete earlier pdfs as I go along. Please download these as the term progresses, not at the end.

Date Topics*
Mon. Sept. 12 Introduction & Course Overview. What is macroevolution?
Tues. Sept. 13 Microevolutionary forces - a review. Mutation, genetic drift, selection (natural & sexual) and gene flow.
Mon. Sept. 19 Species definitions. Historical perspectives & current controversies.
Tues. Sept. 20 Species definitions (cont'd ...) & an intro. to biological speciation.
Mon. Sept. 26 Models of speciation. Geographical versus ecological.
Tues. Sept. 27 The genetics of speciation.
Mon. Oct. 3 Speciation via hybridization and polypoidization.
Tues. Oct. 4 Sexual selection & sexual conflict in speciation.
Mon. Oct. 10 Thanksgiving holiday
Tues. Oct. 11 Inferring evolutionary history: philosophy, phylogenetics & paleontology
Mon. Oct. 17 Phylogenetics: methods
Tues. Oct. 18 Character mapping & evolutionary inference.
Mon. Oct. 24 Popular science articles/chapters on evolution. 1. Sacks, O. 2008. Darwin and the Meaning of Flowers. New York Review of Books; 2. Zimmer, C. 2010. Yet Another "Missing Link. Slate.
Tues. Oct. 25 Biogeography. The intersection of ecology, evolution & history.
Mon. Oct. 31 Adaptive radiation: causes, consequences and celebrated examples.
Tues. Nov. 1 Adaptive radiation. cont'd ...
Mon. Nov. 7 Co-speciation & coevolution.
Tues. Nov. 8 Guest speaker: Jean-Bernard Caron. ROM. The Cambrian explosion of life; views from the Burgess Shale.
Mon. Nov. 14 Development & evolution: ontogeny & phylogeny. Heterochrony, allometry and constraints.
Tues. Nov. 15 cancelled
Mon. Nov. 21 Rates of evolution: gradualism and saltationism
Tues. Nov. 22 Species selection?
Mon. Nov. 28
Mass extinctions and estimating extinction rates.
Tues. Nov. 29 Deep time causes and patterns of diversity. The evolution of major body plans, and the Cambrian Explosion.