Robert P. Anderson, Ph.D.

Graduate Evolution course

Fall 2005
Biology V/70503 [92183], Evolution, 3 credits (Graduate course)
 
 
Time: Wednesdays, 2:00–5:00 p.m.
Location: CUNY Graduate Center, Room 6495, note room change (365 Fifth Avenue, at 34th Street)
 
Instructor: Dr. Robert P. Anderson, Assistant Professor, City College of CUNY
Office: J-817 Marshak Science Building; Telephone: 212-650-8504
Office hours: Mondays, 10:00 a.m.–12:00 p.m. and 1:00–2:00 p.m. or by appointment
E-mail: anderson@sci.ccny.cuny.edu (for scheduling issues)
Webpage: http://web.sci.ccny.cuny.edu/~anderson/
 
Textbook, required: Futuyma, D. J. 1998. Evolutionary Biology, 3rd edition. Sinauer. ISBN
0-87893-189-9 (Textbook available at the City College bookstore or from private vendors)

 

Download syllabus

Download list of supplementary readings

 

Course philosophy:     
This graduate course is designed to expose students to the fundamental elements of modern evolutionary theory and research.  Knowledge gained here should help students in their research and when taking more specialized courses in later semesters. 
 
Class periods will generally include a lecture, followed by discussion.  At the end of each class period, I will give an overview of the topic for the following week.  To complement the textbook, both classic and modern readings from the primary literature and other books will be assigned. 
 
Active participation in readings and discussions (based on completion of readings before coming to class) will be necessary to meet course objectives.  Students will take turns co-leading the discussions with the instructor; the discussion leader(s) will be selected randomly during class.  These discussions will focus primarily on the supplemental readings (i.e., non-Futuyma readings).  Discussion will begin by the student(s) giving a brief (3–5 minute) oral overview of the structure of ideas (and results, if applicable) of the readings.  Preparing a brief written outline of the readings before class may be useful.
 
Grading:  
Grades will be assigned based on performance on three exams and participation in class discussions.  The material for later sections of the course will build upon topics covered earlier in the semester.  Points will be assigned as follows: Exam 1: 30 %; Exam 2: 30 %; Final Exam: 30%; Participation: 10 %.  Plagiarism will dealt with subject to CCNY/CUNY policies.
 
Absences:  
Students are responsible for the material in the readings, as well as that covered each week in class (lecture and discussion).  If you miss class, you are responsible for obtaining the supplementary (non-Futuyma) readings that were assigned on that day.  If you know that you will miss an exam, contact me as soon as possible so that you can take the exam in advance.  Make-up exams will be allowed only for documented excused absences (e.g., death in the family, extreme sickness, etc.).

 

Tentative schedule (modifications in red):
Date
Topic
Readings (Futuyma)
Wed. 31 Aug.
Necessary principles from genetics, ecology, and geology
Ch. 1 (pp. 4–9),
Ch. 3 (pp. 31–39, 43–47),
Ch. 4 (pp. 59–69),
Ch. 6 (pp. 127–132),
Ch. 7 (p. 184)
Wed. 7 Sept.
Darwin
Ch. 2 (pp. 17–24)
Wed. 14 Sept.
The Modern Synthesis
Ch. 2 (pp. 24–28),
Ch. 14 (pp. 413-414, 416)
Wed. 21 Sept.
Schools of systematics and taxonomy
Ch. 5 (pp. 87–96)
Wed. 28 Sept.
Homology, characters, and phylogeny reconstruction (end material Exam 1)
Ch. 5 (pp. 96–100, 108–110),
Ch. 23 (pp. 669–670)
Wed. 5 Oct.
No class
 
Wed. 12 Oct.
No class
 
Wed. 19 Oct.
EXAM 1
 
Wed. 26 Oct.
Hardy-Weinberg; selection (fitness, heritability, adaptive landscapes)
Ch. 9 (pp. 234–239),
Ch. 13 (pp. 365–368, 375–379, 392–395),
Ch. 14 (pp. 407–409, 418–422)
Wed. 2 Nov.
Genetic drift and neutral evolution
Ch. 11 (pp. 297–304, 320–323)
Wed. 9 Nov.
Molecular evolution and molecular systematics (end material Exam 2)
Ch. 11 (pp. 327, 332–333),
Ch. 22 (pp. 625–626)
Wed. 16 Nov.
EXAM 2
 
Wed. 23 Nov.
Development and allometry; macroevolutionary patterns
 
Ch. 6 (pp. 137, 155–162),
Ch. 17 (pp. 523–527),
Ch. 23 (pp. 651–658),
Ch. 24 (pp. 677–678, 689–691)
Wed. 30 Nov.
Species concepts and models of speciation
Ch. 15 (pp. 447–456),
Ch. 16 (pp. 481–484, 498–500)
Wed. 7 Dec.
Comparative biology, biogeography, and species interactions
Ch. 8 (pp. 207–209),
Ch. 18 (pp. 539–542, 551–554),
Ch. 20 (pp. 579–581, 586–588)
Wed. 14 Dec.
FINAL EXAM
 

 

 
Supplementary readings (subject to change)

 

 
 
Week 1 (Necessary principles from genetics, ecology, and geology):
None.
 
Week 2 (Darwin):
pp. 375–379 in:
Darwin, C. 1891. Journal of researches into the natural history and geology of the countries visited during the voyage of H.M.S. “Beagle” round the world. Ward, Lock, and Co., London.
 
pp. 1–13 (Ch. 1) in:
Wallace, A. R. 1923. Darwinism: an exposition of the theory of natural selection with some of its applications. Macmillan and Co., London.
 
Week 3 (The Modern Synthesis):
pp. 540–570 in:
Mayr, E. 1982. The growth of biological thought: diversity, evolution, and inheritance. Belknap Press of Harvard University Press, Cambridge, Massachusetts.
 
Week 4 (Schools of systematics and taxonomy):
pp. 120–124, 195–199, 242–250 in:
Mayr, E. and P. D. Ashlock. 1991. Principles of Systematic Zoology, 2nd edition. McGraw-Hill, New York.
 
pp. 91–111 in:
Wiley, E. O., D. Siegel-Causey, D. R. Brooks, V. A. Funk. 1991. The compleat cladist: a primer of phylogenetic procedures. Special Publication, University of Kansas Museum of Natural History: 19.
 
Week 5 (Homology, characters, and phylogeny reconstruction):
pp. 1–24 in:
Wiley, E. O., D. Siegel-Causey, D. R. Brooks, V. A. Funk. 1991. The compleat cladist: a primer of phylogenetic procedures. Special Publication, University of Kansas Museum of Natural History: 19.
 
Week 6 (EXAM 1)
 
Week 7 (Hardy-Weinberg; selection [fitness, heritability, adaptive landscapes]):
Anderson, R.P. and C.O. Handley, Jr. 2002. Dwarfism in insular sloths: biogeography, selection, and evolutionary rate. Evolution, 56:1045–1058.
 
Week 8 (Genetic drift and neutral evolution):
pp. 47–57 in:
Graur, D. and W.-H. Li. 2000. Fundamentals of molecular evolution, 2nd edition. Sinauer Associates, Sunderland, Massachusetts.
 
Week 9 (Molecular evolution and molecular systematics):
pp. 132–143 in:
Avise, J.C. 2004. Molecular markers, natural history, and evolution, 2nd edition. Sinauer Associates, Sunderland, Massachusetts.
 
Week 10 (EXAM 2)
 
Week 11 (Development and allometry; macroevolutionary patterns):
Gayon, G. 2000. History of the concept of allometry. American Zoologist, 40:748–758.
 
Week 12 (Species concepts and models of speciation):
pp. 23–38 in:
Mayr, E. and P. D. Ashlock. 1991. Principles of Systematic Zoology, 2nd edition. McGraw-Hill, New York.
 
Wiens, J.J. 2004. What is speciation and how should we study it? American Naturalist, 163:914–923.
 
Week 13 (Comparative biology, biogeography, and species interactions):
Zyskowski, K. and R.O. Prum. 1999. Phylogenetic analysis of the nest architecture of Neotropical ovenbirds (Furnariidae). Auk, 116:891–911.
 
Week 14 (FINAL EXAM):
All of the above.
 
 
 
Lecture notes (outline):
 

 

 

 

 

     handout on hierarchies

 

 

 

 

 

 

 
 
R. P. Anderson
Copyright © 2005.
All photographs by RPA
Last modified: 20 September 2005 (RPA)