Evolution
Evolutionary theory is the unifying theme in all of biology and is critical for understanding everything from ecosystems to protein structure. The goal of this course is to review the main principles of evolutionary biology covered in the introductory biology course, and then explore in more detail the evidence and thinking inherit in these principles. We will spend time on the mathematical treatment of genes and their behavior in populations, a critical part of modeling evolution and understanding natural selection, drift, fitness, and migration. We will focus on the history of life as evidence for evolution and the techniques for acquiring and analyzing this rich history. Finally, we will consider molecular evolution and human evolution, two topics in evolution that illustrate how evolutionary theory has permeated all aspects of biology and our culture.
