Evolutionary Biology

A broad introduction to the patterns and processes of evolution at diverse levels of biological organization. Topics covered include natural selection, adaptation, speciation, systematics, macroevolution, mass extinction events, and human evolution. Students will be given the opportunity to do their 23andMe ancestry analyses as a means of integrating the topics that span genomics to human variation. Weekly discussion sections involve active learning simulations and discussions of papers from the primary literature. Occasional problem sets involve computer exercises with population genetics and phylogeny reconstruction. Expected: BIOL 0200 (or equivalent placement).