Course:
BIOL 501 Evolution
Professor:
Dr. Brad Swanson
Office:
Brooks 190 Office
Hours: T, R 11:00 am – 1:00 pm
Phone:
x-3377 E-mail:
brad.swanson@cmich.edu
Book:
Evolutionary Analysis 4th edition by S. Freeman and J. C. Herron
|
Date |
Topic |
Reading |
|
1/9 |
Course
Intro & Are birds feathered lizards? |
|
|
1/11 |
Are birds feathered lizards? |
|
|
1/16 |
Ch. 16 |
|
|
1/18 |
HIV/AIDs
– an evolutionary understanding |
Ch. 1 |
|
1/23 |
Ch. 2 |
|
|
1/25 |
Ch. 3 |
|
|
1/30 |
DarwinÕs dangerous idea: Continued |
Ch. 3 |
|
2/1 |
Ch. 4 |
|
|
2/6 |
Catch-up day Turn in your critique paper for instructor OK |
|
|
2/8 |
EXAM I |
|
|
2/13 |
Population Genetics I: Hardy-Weinberg Equilibrium |
Ch. 5 |
|
2/15 |
Population Genetics II: Selection |
Ch. 5 |
|
2/20 |
Population Genetics III: Selection |
Ch. 5 |
|
2/22 |
Population Genetics IV: Mutation |
Ch. 5 |
|
2/27 |
Population Genetics V: Migration |
Ch. 6 |
|
3/1 |
Population Genetics VI: Genetic Drift |
Ch. 6 |
|
3/6 |
Spring Break |
|
|
3/8 |
Spring Break |
|
|
3/13 |
Population Genetics VII: Genetic Drift Continued & Sex |
Ch. 6 |
|
3/15 |
Catch-up day |
|
|
3/20 |
Catch-up day |
|
|
3/22 |
EXAM II |
|
|
3/27 |
Adaptation: does form follow function? |
Ch. 9 |
|
3/29 |
Adaptation: continued |
|
|
4/3 |
Sexual selection: why do act that way at the bar???? Turn in critique |
Ch. 10 |
|
4/5 |
Sexual selection: continued |
|
|
4/10 |
Kin selection: your house is on fire, do you save your
sister or mother? |
Ch. 11 |
|
4/12 |
Kin selection: continued |
|
|
4/17 |
Speciation: are all dogs wolves or are all wolves dogs? |
Ch. 15 |
|
4/19 |
Speciation: Continued |
|
|
4/24 |
BOOM!!! The
Cambrian explosion |
Ch. 17 |
|
4/26 |
Is a monkey your uncle? Human evolution |
Ch. 19 |
Evolution
is the foundation for all of biology. It is impossible to have more than
a surface level understanding of biology without a solid knowledge of what
evolution is, isnÕt, and why it is and isnÕt. I hope that this class will
provide that as well as being fun, thought provoking, and challenging.
Having said that,
WELCOME
TO A GRADUATE LEVEL COURSE.
I
expect each of you to perform as a graduate student, regardless of your class
standing. This includes doing all of the assigned reading prior to the
class and being ready to discuss the material. Exam questions are as
likely to come off of material from the book as out of lecture, so yes you have
to do all of the reading. I will not assign homework, you are in a
graduate student class, I expect you to be doing the problems at the end of the
chapter and in the chapter of your own accord. I am more than happy to
talk about the questions if you can show me that you have tried to answer them.
Course
Policies:
The
published schedule is subject to change.
I
consider this course to be preparation for the Òreal worldÓ, therefore, I
expect you to perform as you would in a job. You would never turn in
handwritten, improperly spelled, or poorly worded work at your job and I expect
the same from you in this course. This philosophy applies to everything
that you turn in for this course, therefore I expect everything to be typed, in
proper English and spelled properly. I will hold myself to the same policy
though, so you will be able to earn extra-credit throughout the course by
finding spelling or grammar mistakes. Should you find a mistake on
anything I hand out, circle it, correct it, and turn it in to me and you will
receive 0.5 points extra-credit. However, should you correct something
that was not incorrect you will lose an equal amount of points. Hey,
there is no such thing as a free lunch.
Critique:
Each
graduate student will read and critique one article from the journal Evolution
or American Naturalist (relating to evolution) not older than 2000. The
article must be approved by me prior to submitting your review. This
review is not going to be easy! It is going to take several readings of
the paper and concerted thought about the study described in the paper. I
donÕt want a book report telling me what was said in the paper, I want a
reasoned critique of the paper. This will include a summary of the paper,
pointing out strengths and weaknesses in the paper, and deciding if it should
have been published in the journal or not. Remember, just because
something was published doesnÕt mean that it is good science and should have
been published, or that it is appropriate for the journal (Note that Evolution
and American Naturalist are the top two journals for publication of
evolutionary studies). This review is to be typed and turned into me via
e-mail as an attached Microsoft Word document. You will also need to
attach a PDF version of the article you are critiquing. Our library
carries electronic versions of both journals that are free to download.
NO
LATE PAPERS WILL BE ACCEPTED.
Exams:
Exams
will be in class and consist of a mixture of mathematical problems (you will
need a scientific calculator) and essays often based on an evaluation of
presented data. The final exam will be cumulative (approximately 50%) and
cover the last set of material (approximately 50%).
Grading
Graduate
Students
Participation Critique Exams Final
5% 10% 25% each 35%
Undergraduate
students
Participation Exams Final
5% 30%
each 35%
Grading
will be on a straight scale, as indicated below, although I reserve the right
to lower the scale if I deem it necessary.
Grade Percentage
A >
93
A- 92
– 90
B+ 89
– 87
B 86
– 83
B- 82
– 80
C+ 79
– 77
C 76
– 73
C- 72
– 70
D+ 69
– 67
D 66
– 63
D- 62
– 60
F <
59