Texts
Evolutionary Analysis
by Herron and FreemanISBN: 0321616677
The Beak of the Finch
by Jonathan WeinerISBN: 0679400036
Schedule
A copy of the schedule can be downloaded here .
| Date | Week | Topic | Reading | Tasks Due | Lecture notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Monday, Jan. 4 | 1 | Evening lecture: Introduction-Rob and Victoria’s vision for the course. |
"Beak of the Finch." Dhobzansky, 1976 The Origin of Species, Ch 4. Measey et al., 2007. |
Assigment 1 Bring 2 hard copies to class. | |
| Tuesday, Jan. 5 | 1 | What is Evolution? | Nurse, 2003. | ||
| Wednesday, Jan. 6 | 1 | The ingredients of evolution part 1: heritable variation | Farhadifar et al., 2015. | ||
| Thursday, Jan. 7 | 1 | The ingredients of evolution part 2: the forces of evolution - drift and selection |
Section 5.1 in Herron and Freeman. Stringham et al., 2012. |
||
| Tuesday, Jan. 12 | 2 | (VJO) A history of life on Earth, Part I. | Herron and Freeman Ch. 18 Radiometric dating The Origin of Species Ch. 4 Daeschler & Shubin, 2010 Nisbet & Fowler, 2003 Zhang et al., 2016. |
Assignment 2. | Lecture notes, Jan. 12 |
| Tuesday, Jan 12. | Lab | Depictions of life on a string (Condensing 3.8 billion years of life's major events in 3 hours). | Bring your computers to lab! | ||
| Thursday, January 14. | 2 | (VJO) History of life on Earth, Part II. | Handout short essay ‘Fossil discovery and the origins of tetrapods’ by Daeschler and Shubin. pp. 297-310. | ||
| Tuesday, Jan. 19 | 3 | (VJO) Phylogenetics -- cladistics and the fossil record. | Chapter 4 in Herron and Freeman Sato et al., 1999. Palmer and Kronforst, 2015. Zuckerlandl and Pauling, 1965. |
Assignment 3 | |
| Tuesday, Jan. 20 | Lab | GASP Lab part I -- Your Inner Fish | |||
| Thursday, Jan. 21 | 3 | Phylogenetics -- molecular signatures. Molecular clocks and the rise of oxygen. | Chapter 15 in Herron and Freeman Eugene Koonin, 1999. E. Margoliash, 1963. |
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| Tuesday, Jan. 26 | 4 | Guest Lecturer Steve Finkel - Tracking microbial evolution in a test tube. | Finkel and Kolter, 1999 | Assignment 4 | |
| Tuesday, Jan. 26 | Lab | GASP lab Part II -- Titer Counting. | |||
| Thursday, Jan. 28 | 4 | In-class discussion of Chapter 4 of Origin of Species. | |||
| Tuesday, Feb. 2 | 5 | (RP) Facts of Evolution: Variation | Chapter 5 of Herron and Freeman | Assignment 5 | |
| Tuesday, Feb. 2 | Lab | GASP Lab part III -- Final Titer Counts and MATLAB exercise. | |||
| Thursday, Feb. 4 | 5 | (RP) Forces of Evolution: Heritability | Chapter 7 in Herron and Freeman | ||
| Tuesday, Feb. 9 | 6 | (RP) FOrces of Evolution: The Genome | Chapter 6 in Herron and Freeman | Assignment 6 | |
| Tuesday, Feb. 9 | Lab | Luria-Delbrück Experiment | -- | -- | |
| Thursday, Feb. 11 | 6 | Forces of Evolution: Natural Selection | Chapter 3 in Herron and Freeman | -- | |
| Tueday, Feb. 16 | 7 | (VJO) Microbial species concept, mechanisms of speciation, coevolution and symbiosis. | Chapter 16 in Herron and Freeman | Assignment 7 | |
| Tuesday, Feb. 16 | Lab | TBD: Bird Lab or Luria-Delbrück Experiment Part II | -- | -- | |
| Thursday, Feb. 18 | 7 | (VJO) Island Biogeography | -- | -- | |
| Saturday, Feb. 20 | 7 | Fieldtrip to Page Museum and Rancho La Brea Tar Pits (9AM - 2PM) | Stock and Harris, 1993. | -- | |
| Tuesday, Feb. 23 | 8 | (RP) Human Evolution | Chapter 11 in Herron and Freeman | Assignment 8 | |
| Tuesday, Feb. 23 | Lab | TBD: BIrd Lab or Luria-Delbrück Part II | -- | -- | |
| Thursday, Feb. 23 | 8 | (RP) Human Evolution Part II | -- | -- | |
| Tuesday, Mar. 1 | 9 | Student Presentations | -- | Assignment 9 | |
| Tuesday, Mar. 1 | Lab | Group discussion data analysis from bird lab. | -- | -- | |
| Thursday, Mar. 3 | 9 | Student Presentations | -- | -- | |
| Tuesday, Mar. 8 | 10 | TBD | -- | -- | |
| Tuesday, Mar. 8 | 10 | Field trip logistics. Discussion of Galapagos and the Beach of the Finch. | -- | -- | |
| Tuesday, Mar. 15 | -- | -- | -- | -- | |
| Thursday, Mar. 17 | -- | Galapagos! | -- | -- |