The course balances theoretical and empirical approaches and includes readings in the classic and contemporary primary literature. Topics include population growth and demography, dynamics of species interactions, community organization, ecology of sex and sociality, and coevolution. Topics include population genetics, quantitative genetics, neutralism, molecular evolution, evolution of genetic systems, genetic architecture of fitness, speciation and macroevolution. Emphasis on specific applications and underlying assumptions rather than on methods of calculation. Topics include experimental design, parametric and nonparametric methods, analysis of variance and covariance, and multiple regression.
Course forms a basis for subsequent specialization in any of the subdisciplines of physiology.
Possible topics include quantitative genetics, experimental methods of evolutionary studies, mathematical modeling in evolutionary studies and the evolution of genetic systems. Possible topics include quantitative genetics, experimental methods of evolutionary studies, mathematical modeling in evolutionary studies and the evolution of genetic systems. Topics arranged are consistent with graduate student interest and center around themes in vertebrate physiological ecology, paleontology, and evolution. Current problems will be approached through a combination of readings, group discussions and visiting speakers. Mathematical modeling of ecological and evolutionary processes is developed with a view toward teaching methods of theoretical research in ecology and evolutionary biology.