Syllabus
In this course, following topics will be presented:
Introduction (What is macroevolution? Brief history of ideas)Progress and trends in evolutionMajor transitions in evolutionEvo-devo: deep homologies, genes, and evolutionary noveltiesComparative biology: Phylogenetic trees and trait evolutionSpecies, speciation, and geography of evolutionEvolutionary radiations, diversification, and extinctionsGeography of evolutionary lineages and diversityEvolution of behaviour and species interactions
We will also cover historical and theoretical aspects of these topics during lectures.
Annotation
This course will be focused on the origins and evolution of biological diversity on long temporal scales and at the level of phylogenetic lineages. We will pay attention to both species diversity and the diversity of traits and strategies of organisms (disparity). We will talk about major trends in the evolution of life on Earth and the underlying processes that can be inferred from the study of genes, phylogenetic trees, and paleontological record.
Students will also learn about modern approaches to the analysis of diversity and how to ask interesting questions.
You will have to choose a paper (or a series of related papers) on a macroevolutionary topic and present its contents to all of us at the end of semestr (we will discuss and evaluate the presented study).
This course assumes that you know only basic undergraduate biology and thus is convenient for students studying diverse subjects (zoology, botany, ecology, evolutionary biology etc.).