BSC 2011 (Periods 3 and 5; Spring 1999)

Lecture Outline

This outline is intended as a simple map to illustrate where we've been (e.g., in case you've missed a lecture, or want to see the whole scheme of things, or in case you've just gotten a bit lost enroute).  For detailed information, you must refer to your book, lecture notes, and discussion notes.

I.  SPECIATION
    A. Local Differentiation
        1.  Drift and Effective population size
        2.  Natural selection
        3.  Phenotypic plasticity
   ------------end of lecture 1 ---------
    B.  Modes of Speciation
        1.  Sympatric
        2.  Allopatric
    C.  What is a Species?  (Species concepts)
    D.  Reproductive Isolating Mechanisms
        1.  Pre-zygotic (pre-mating)
        2.  Pre-zygotic (post-mating)
        3.  Post-zygotic
    E.  Problems with the Biological Species Concept
        1.  Asexuality
        2.  Incomplete isolation
            a.  hybrid zones
            b.  ring species
            c.  interspecific gene transfer
    F.  Speciation: How different?  How long?
   ------------end of lecture 2 ---------
    G.  How do major evolutionary changes arise?
        1.  Pre-adaptation
        2.  Developmental dynamics
            a.  allometry
            b.  heterochrony / paedomorphosis

II.  The Evidence for Macro-Evolutionary Change
    A.  Biogeography
    B.  Fossil Record
    C.  Comparative Biology (including Homology and Analogy)
   ------------end of lecture 3 ---------

  III.  CLASSIFICATION OF BIOLOGICAL DIVERSITY
    A.  Phenetics vs. Phylogenetics (or cladistics)
    B.  Building a Tree
        1.  Traits that are useful: derived vs. ancestral homologies
        2.  Determine ancestral states
        3.  Assign derived states
        4.  Construct trees (many are possible)
        5.  Pick "best": concept of parsimony
    C.  Examples
 ------------end of lecture 4 ---------
 D.  Linking Phylogenetic and Classic Systematics
        1.  Linnaean systematics
        2.  What is a clade; what are monophyletic groups?
        3.  Examples
   ------------end of lecture 5 ---------
IV.  BEHAVIORAL ECOLOGY
    A.  Introduction
    B.  Foraging (and optimal foraging theory)
        1.  Prey selection within habitats
  ------------end of lecture 6 ---------
   2.  Habitat selection
        3.  Effects of predators
    C.  Altruism
        1.  Inclusive fitness and coefficient of relatedness
------------end of lecture 7 (23 March)---------
        2.  Reciprocity
        3.  Group selection and structured demes
            --inc. discussion of levels of selection
    D.  Reproductive Behavior
        1.  Sexual conflict
  ------------end of lecture 8 (24 March) ---------
        2.  Typical sex roles
        3.  Sex role reversal
        4.  Sexual selection
            a.  run-away selection
            b.  revealing traits
 ------------end of lecture 9 (25 March)---------
V.  ECOLOGY
    A.  What is ecology?
    B.  Distributional limits
        1.  General scheme
        2.  Example: Barnacles (Connell and Raimondi's studies)
------------end of lecture 10 (30 March)---------
   C.  Population dynamics
        1.  The basics
        2.  Exponential and geometric growth
------------end of lecture 11 (31 March)---------
------------Exam III -- 1 April -- no lecture------
        3.  Logistic growth, density-dependence, and population regulation
        4.  Demography: adding in age-structure
            a.  survivorship curves
------------end of lecture 12 (6 April) ---------
            b.  fertlity schedules
            c.  life tables and population projections
            d.  Application: sea turtles
------------end of lecture 13 (7 April)---------
        5.  Human population growth
------------end of lecture 14 (8 April)---------
     D.  Species Interactions
        1.  Generalized Lotka-Volterra Model
        2.  Models of competition
            a.  Phase planes and isoclines
            b.  Coexistence and competitive exclusion
------------end of lecture 15 (13 April)---------
            c.  Examples
                --Paramecium
                --diatoms (with known resource dynamics)
        3.  Invasibility and coexistence
        4.  Explicit focus on resources: two resources and consumer isoclines
        5.  Competition and indirect effects
 ------------end of lecture 16 (14 April)---------
     E.  Species diversity
        1.  Definition (richness and evenness)
        2.  Disturbance, patch dynamics and the Intermediate Disturbance Hypothesis
        3.  Predation
        4.  Succession
            a.  definitions
(we also did teaching evaluations this day)
------------end of lecture 17 (15 April)---------
            b.  facilitation-tolerance-inhibition models
            c.  example: boulder fields and algae
        5.  Implications of Species Diversity
            a.  Plant productivity
            b.  Effect of drought and recovery
            c.  Nitrogen mineralization
------------end of lecture 18 (20 April)---------
    F.  Foodwebs, food chains and their application
        1. Definitions and examples
        2.  Eutrophication
            a.  history
            b.  limiting nutrients in aquatic and terrestrial systems
            c.  Trophic cascades and biomanipulation
            d.  Examples
                i.  Daphnia-algae interactions
                ii.  Winterkill and responses of fish, zooplankton and algae
------------end of final lecture 19 (21 April)---------


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