Evolution

"Nothing in biology makes sense except in the light of evolution" Theodosius Dobzhansky (1973) -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Evolution has shaped everything about the biological world. This course will help you to make sense of evolution. It will give you deeper insights into some of the most gripping aspects of existence: why organisms age, why most animals have sex rather than reproducing clonally, why diseases are virulent or mild, why individuals choose to compete rather than cooperate, and much more. This course will help you to develop an appreciation and understanding of evolutionary principles and processes, including microevolution (natural and sexual selection, fitness, adaptation, sexual conflict, coevolution) and macroevolution (speciation, molecular evolution, phylogenetics, evolution of biodiversity). The course will also briefly introduce human evolution and the emerging field of evolutionary medicine. The course is not just about learning facts. It is about understanding how evolutionary biologists do research, and getting to grips with how we can design tests or experiments that tell us about processes that happen over timescales longer than a human life, or events that occurred millions of years ago. For example, how do we test ideas about why some birds are brightly coloured and others dull? How can we reconstruct the events that result in one species splitting into two? How can we explain why there are so many species in tropical rainforests? By the end of this course, you will be able to formulate and test your own evolutionary hypotheses. A series of 4 workshops include in-depth discussions of the complexities of evolutionary issues, and a computer workshop to give you hands-on experience of evolutionary analysis Note: Graduate students attend joint classes with undergraduates but are assessed separately