EVOLUTION

Nothing in biology makes sense except in the light of evolution.
- Theodosius Dobzhansky

LINKS TO: LINKS, ASSIGNMENTS, READINGS

Darwin didn’t invent the idea of evolution, but his insight into its mechanisms constitutes one of the great revolutions in science, and the methods he used in testing his ideas made him, arguably, the first "modern" scientist. No other effective explanation exists for the adaptive (and maladaptive) diversity of life. The modern consensus on evolution, founded on many decades of thorough testing, continues to embody Darwin’s ideas at its core. However, many ideas remain to be rigorously addressed, many particular mechanisms remain to be elucidated, new doors to understanding have been opened by new insights into genetics, and the field of evolutionary biology remains dynamic. Discussions and debates are lively, and important new studies are published regularly.

This course will be a study of the mechanisms and patterns of evolution that have produced the current, vast complexity of life and life histories. While the basic selective process is a simple logical consequence of the properties of life, many of the implications and predictions of selective theory are counter-intuitive (perhaps because our intuition has been shaped by selection!) and challenging. We will focus on the working of selection in populations as it shapes organism adaptation and life-history structures (in-depth exploration of the grand history of life – phylogeny and biogeography – will be reserved for another class).

Why is life so complex? Why do organisms look and behave as they do? What is the significance of the similarities and differences we observe? Are there trends in evolution? How does one study evolution? In addressing these and other questions we will read and discuss, in additional to a general text, primary research papers and essays.

EXPECTATIONS

Primarily, I expect you to take this course seriously. Give serious thought to the subject matter, participate in the discussion, exercise your capability for critical thought. You must attend class and keep up with the readings;otherwise, either you will become lost and confused or the entire class will be slowed. Some absences cannot be helped (in which case, let me know before-hand if possible), but you must bear the responsibility for catching up.

I also expect you to enter the class with a working familiarity with some of the basic processes and vocabulary of biology.  In particular, it's important that you have a good grasp of the cell cycle (meiosis, mitosis), of the basic structure of DNA and proteins, and of the processes of DNA replication and translation.  These are all essential to clear thinking about selective processes and will not be reviewed in this class.  Talk to me if you need to do some background review. 

Here are some more specific expectations:
- Part of the class will consist of intensive discussion of particular papers from the primary research literature; you will be expected to take an active part in this discussion.
- There will be a variety of exercises, problems, and discussion questions; these must be done as assigned.
- You will write several essays critically analyzing and reviewing work from the primary literature in evolution; most will be reviews of particular pieces of research, but at least one will be more extended.

WEB SITE

The class website is at http://faculty.bennington.edu/faculty/~kwoods. It includes general course information, assignments, and a number of links that might be of interest.

REFERENCES

Crosset library has substantial book holdings on evolution; explore them. You’ll also be asked to choose, read, and review primary journal papers. You can find appropriate material via searches in data-bases available at the Crossett Library web-page (try the Academic Search Premier, BIOONE, JSTOR databases in particular; note that some journals don't give these data-bases full-text access for a period after publication). You can determine which journals the library holds (either paper or digital access) at Crossett's E-journal portal. The scholar.google.com page is a powerful engine for scientific literature research; it can often find on-line versions of papers (for example, at authors' web-sites), and will also find more recent papers that have cited a known paper. Finally, you can simply browse current journals on Crossett shelves to get a sense of what the papers look like. Almost any biological journal will publish papers addressing evolutionary questions. Among those held in Crosset, the following are particularly likely to have appropriate papers.

American Journal of Botany
American Naturalist (lots of theory)
Ann. Rev. Ecol. and Systematics (shelved with books, not journals)
Behavioral Ecology and Sociobiology
Proceedings of National Academy of Science
Ecology
Evolution (obviously)
Nature
Science

TENTATIVE COURSE OUTLINE

This outline may change as we see how things progress. Readings are from Evolution by Douglas Futuyma; I don’t care whether you purchase the book, but you should make sure you have reliable access to it. It is a very good and accessible overview of the field. If you read these in advance of class much "lecturing" may be foregone in favor of discussion. Additional readings for discussion will be assigned regularly; it is important that these be read BEFORE discussion.  (NOTE: Chapters 3-7 will not be the focus of a particular piece of this class, although wehese be read BEFORE discussion.  (NOTE: Chapters 3-7 will not be the focus of a particular piece of this class, although we will touch on their substance occasionally.  But feel free to read them (they are interesting) and bring questions to class.)

I. Introduction and Context (READ Chs. 1-2,8-9)
- What's evolution? Natural selection, adaptation, exaptation
- Origins of the idea, history of hypotheses
- Evidences of evolution; can it be studied scientifically?
- Inheritance, genetics, and inevitability
- Characteristics of genes, organisms, populations, species

II. Processes and Mechanisms: basic selective theory (READ Chs. 10-13)
- Variation and its origins
- Population structure and genetics
- Natural Selection and adaptation
- Non-selective evolution

III. Life-history evolution (READ Chs. 14,17,18-20)
- Life history evolution
- game theory, optimality, and stability
- Coevolution, parasitism, and symbiosis
- Kin selection, sociobiology, altruism, and selfish genes
- What good is sex?
- Sexual selection

IV. Bigger pictures: Origins and patterns of diversity
- Speciation (READ Chs. 15-16)
- Introduction to phylogenetics and evolutionary biogeography (READ Chs. 2,21)

V. Other topics?? (many possibilities: evolution of disease and evolutionary medicine, for example)

-- KDW, Feb 2006