BIOLOGY 201 FALL SEMESTER 2014 ECOLOGY AND EVOLUTION

Transcription

1 BIOLOGY 201 FALL SEMESTER 2014 ECOLOGY AND EVOLUTION INSTRUCTORS: Dr. Christopher Willett 235 Wilson Hall Office Phone: (919) Office Hours: Tues. 10am; Friday 1pm Dr. James Umbanhowar office: 210 Wilson Hall Office Phone: (919) Office Hours: TBD Teaching Assistants: Peter Wilfahrt Robert Heckman Jee Yun Lee LECTURES: 11:00-12:15 Tuesday and Thursday, GSB G200. RECITATION AND FIELD TRIPS: You must be registered for one of the following sections: (NOTE: sections are for Drs. Umbanhowar and Micancin s BIOL 201 course). Please see the recitation syllabus for more details on this portion of the course. BIOLOGY 201 WEBSITE: Sakai will be the primary medium for communications in this class outside of lecture. We will post material for class there so check it regularly. PREREQUISITES: BIOL 101, and CHEM 101 or 102 with a grade of C or better. PHILOSOPHICAL BACKGROUND FOR ECOLOGY AND EVOLUTION: G.E. Hutchinson wrote a book called The Ecological Theatre and The Evolutionary Play. In it, he points out that the drama of evolution is played out in an ecological context. Ecological processes like interactions with the physical environment, competition, and predation are the mechanisms that drive evolution. The actors in the evolutionary drama are ecological entities (populations). Since all biological processes are ultimately part of evolution, ecology and evolution are intimately intertwined. The ecological interactions involving populations, species, communities and ecosystems all have evolutionary consequences. All environmental issues have an ecological basis and both ecological and evolutionary consequences. Global warming, ozone depletion, deforestation, overpopulation, etc. result from the actions and interactions between organisms and their environment. Species frequently must adapt to changed environmental conditions via evolution and acclimation or face extinction. UNIFYING THEMES: Two concepts help unify this course. One is the role of diversity. We will consider many types of diversity from diversity of life, and its evolution during the history of the earth, to genetic diversity (the variety of genotypes in a population or species), which fuels evolution; to

2 species diversity (the variety of species in a natural community), which stabilizes ecosystem processes. Diversity is fundamental to evolution, population biology and ecology. The other unifying concept is spatial and temporal heterogeneity. All systems are variable in space and time. This idea underlies the development of new species, genetic drift, predator-prey dynamics, coexistence of competing species, seasonality, and the structure and dynamics of communities and ecosystems. We will organize the course by using these conceptual threads to weave a coherent understanding of the interrelationships between ecology and evolution. Because evolution and ecology are sciences, we teach these concepts in the context of the scientific method. COURSE OBJECTIVES: Our goal for Biology 201 is to help you to understand the process of evolution and the processes that govern the distribution and dynamics of ecological systems. We will explore the problems and challenges of understanding how organisms interact with each other and their environment. Ultimately we want you to understand how evolutionary and ecological systems work. We want to teach you to think ecologically and evolutionarily. We don t want you to spit back what we say. We want you to demonstrate your understanding. Biology 201 is unlike some other biology classes in that ecological and evolutionary processes are occurring in complex natural landscapes with varying environmental conditions. One challenge of the course is to decipher which attributes of the landscapes are essential to ecological and evolutionary outcomes and which are extraneous. Ecology and evolution are data intensive and one skill we will emphasize is how to read and interpret graphs. We want you to understand how evolution works, how species evolve and how evolution is ongoing and visible in the modern world. We want you to comprehend how the interaction of organisms with the environment and each other shapes communities, ecosystems and patterns of biological diversity. We will give you the groundwork for future study in Ecology and Evolutionary Biology and the tools to apply ecological and evolutionary reasoning to applied issues such as environmental and health problems. Who are your instructors? Chris Willett- I first came to the UNC biology department in the fall of Before coming to UNC I was in San Diego for 3 years (where I started working on evolution in a copepod species), preceded by a stint in upstate NY at Cornell for graduate school (working on the evolution of pheromone communication and speciation in moths) after having grown up in Michigan. My research focuses on evolutionary genetics and I am currently working most extensively with an intertidal invertebrate (a copepod species) as a model for studying speciation and adaptation. Two questions that I am addressing in this species are how do populations of copepods adapt to local conditions in their environment (particularly thermal environment) and what are the genetic changes that underlie the initial stages of reproductive isolation and speciation. James Umbanhowar- I have been researching ecological problems for nearly 15 years, and have been interested in the workings of ecological systems since growing up next to a degraded tallgrass prairie in Minnesota. I did my graduate work at the University of California, Davis and did a postdoctoral fellowship at McGill and Guelph Universities in Canada. I have been on the faculty here at UNC-Chapel Hill for 7 years. My research is focused on the role of species interactions on the structure and stability of communities. I'm especially interested in the role of mutualistic (especially mycorrhizae) and pathogenic interactions in communities. Most of my research involves developing and analyzing mathematical models of species interaction webs. I try to apply this research at home where I'm an avid gardener.

3 COURSE ORGANIZATION: This course is divided into two main parts: In Part I, Evolutionary Biology, we start with an examination of the development of the concept of evolution and the primary mechanism of evolution (i.e. natural selection) before turning to population genetics and gaining an understanding of how natural selection and other evolutionary forces operate at the population level. Typically when we think of selection we think of survival, but in fact reproduction (and obtaining reproductive opportunities) is equally important; we will spend some time studying this form of selection, sexual selection. This half of the course will finish with macroevolution which is an examination of patterns of evolution above the species level. Here we will consider speciation (the process of one species splitting into two species) which is the engine the drives the diversification of life. We will also consider adaptive radiations on a small scale and a large scale (the diversity of life on earth) and how we can reconstruct the evolutionary history of these radiations (through phylogenetics). Finally we will end by examining an evolutionary radiation with only one surviving, extant species, Homo sapiens and the evolution of pathogens that infect humans. In Part II, Ecology, we will focus on how organisms interact with their environment and with each other. We will investigate how the physical environment determines the distribution of organisms, energy and nutrients in ecosystems. We will then address how individual organisms interact with the environment via physiology and how these interactions are shifting in response to human alteration of the environment. We will consider how aggregates of individuals (populations) change over time and how these aggregates are regulated by the environment. We will then examine interactions between two or more species (competition, predation, and mutualism). Then we will investigate how entire communities of organisms (and their interactions) are structured (i.e., what determines species composition and biodiversity?), how they function and change over time, and how they are distributed across landscapes. EXAMS AND COURSE GRADING Midterm I...20% (Sept. 18th) Midterm II...20% (Nov. 4th) Final Exam...40% (Dec. 11th) Recitation...20% 100% The final is cumulative, but the midterms are not. Examination grades will be posted on the gradebook of the Sakai website. Half of the final will test the last section of ecology lectures and half will be a cumulative final from the entire course. For each lecture, there will be a list of lecture goals, posted in advance on Sakai. You should use these goals as a study guide to prepare for the exams. This class will be scored on a curve (except for grades of F). We have based the curve on our past experience with BIOL 201, combined with the expectation of the Biology Department for the distribution of the letter grades. The curve will be based on your percentile ranking in the class. These are the percentages shown below. Your percentile ranking will be calculated by ranking all students based on their cumulative number of points then determining the fraction of the class that has fewer cumulative points than you. A: % C+: 40-45% A-: 80-90% C: 15-40% B+: 70-80% C-: 11-15%

4 B: 60-70% D+: 8-11% B-: 45-60% D/F*: 0-8% *Students who are both in the bottom 0-8% of the class ranking and that receive at least half of the maximum cumulative points will receive a grade of D. Any remaining students in the bottom 0-8% of the class ranking will receive a grade of F. Lecture questions will be in-class questions answered by using the Poll Everywhere system along with your cell phone or computer. Instructions for registering and using this system can be found on Sakai. NOTE: due to cell phone reception problems in our room, we will not be giving credit for poll everywhere responses but do encourage everyone who can to participate using laptops and smartphones. Regrades: Grades in both lecture and recitation (including final course grades) will be changed only in the event that a question was mis-graded or if points were totaled incorrectly. Regrades must be requested in writing (i.e. on paper, either computer-printed or clearly hand-written, NOT ed) and submitted two weeks from when the exam or assignment was returned to you (your exams will be returned in recitation). Regrades must be given to the professor or put in his/her mailbox. We reserve the right to regrade any portion of an exam submitted for a regrade, and to either add or subtract points to correct grading errors. We believe in the Honor Code and will enforce it. Read up on the Honor Code on the UNC Website ( Recitation: Your recitation section meets once a week. The Recitation grade will constitute 20% of your final grade. You are assigned to one recitation section and you must attend that section. The recitation will complement the lecture material and coordinate with the lecture sequence. It will be a mini-lab, containing computer simulations, discussions, and field trips. Check your recitation schedule and plan accordingly. THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN THE LECTURES AND THE READINGS: Attendance in lectures is essential for success in this course. If you must miss a lecture, obtain a set of notes from a friend (we will also post some lecture slides on the course website). If you have done the reading before the lecture it will be much easier for you to understand the lectures and to participate in the discussions. After class, go back to the book and study the points we have stressed. There is more in the books than we can cover in class. You are not responsible for the subjects we don t cover. However, reading the entire chapter (indeed the entire book) will improve your understanding of the subject. While we will only test subjects that we have covered in class or recitation, additional examples from the texts may prove very helpful on the exams! FINAL NOTE: The professors reserve to right to make changes to the syllabus, including project due dates and test dates (excluding the officially scheduled final examination), when unforeseen circumstances occur. These changes will be announced as early as possible so that students can adjust their schedules.

5 TEXTBOOKS: In the syllabus: BD = Bergstrom, C. T., and L. A. Dugatkin Evolution W. W. Norton, New York, NY. (ISBN ) C = Cain, M. L., W. D. Bowman, and S. D. Hacker Ecology 3rd edition. Sinauer Assoc. Inc. (ISBN ). SCHEDULE NOTE: Dr. Willett will lecture from August 19 th until October 8th. Dr. Umbanhowar will lecture from October 9 th until the end of the semester. BIOLOGY 201 LECTURE: ECOLOGY AND EVOLUTION LECTURE SCHEDULE Drs. Umbanhowar & Willett Fall 2014 DATE TOPIC READINGS BD = Bergstrom and Dugatkin; C = Cain et al. NOTE: Boundaries between lectures are tentative and subject to change. EVOLUTION (Lectures by Dr. Willett) Aug. 19 What is evolution? BD-Ch1, Ch2 -Connections between ecology & evolution -Misconceptions in evolution -History of evolutionary thought 21 Darwinian evolution and quantitative traits BD-Ch3 (read first -Darwin and natural selection half, skim pg ) -Morphology and quantitative traits -Heritability and response to selection 26 Genetics, variation, and selection BD-Ch9: , -Heritability and response to selection (cont.) , Ch6, -Modes of selection Ch7: Mendelian genetics -Hardy-Weinberg equilibrium 28 Population genetics and selection BD-Ch7: Intro to single-locus selection models -Maintenance of polymorphism Sept. 2 Mutation, migration, and selection BD-Ch7: Mutation and selection -Gene flow 4 Migration, genetic drift, and selection BD-Ch8: Migration/selection balance -Genetic drift and population size 9 Genetic drift and molecular evolution -Neutral theory -Molecular clocks -Selection at the molecular level BD-Ch8:

6 Sept. 11 Sexual selection and levels of selection BD-Ch17 -Mating systems and operational sex ratio Ch10: Male-male competition and female choice (look at Ch18 p611, -Selection between genes Ch15 p532) -Selection between organelles/cells 16 Levels of selection (cont.) Ch18: Group and species selection -Kin selection -Evolution of altruistic behavior 18 MIDTERM EXAM #1 [The exam will cover material covered in lecture through Sept. 18th] 23 Phylogenetics and the comparative method BD-Ch4, Ch5:137- -Building and understanding trees 148, Using the comparative method 25 Species and speciation BD-Ch14: Species definitions -Isolating mechanisms -Role of geography in speciation 30 Adaptive radiations and diversity BD-Ch15: Explosive speciation on islands Ch13: Extinction, fossil record -History of life, macro trends Oct. 2 Human evolution BD-Ch14: Recent ancestry of humans -Origin of modern humans 7 Evolution and Disease BD-pg , Evolution of flu virus 662 -Evolution of virulence 9 Introduction to ecology (remaining lectures Dr. Umbanhowar) C 1 -What is Ecology? How do Ecologists study the world? C (22-42) -Climate 14 Climate and ecology C 3 (skim) -Climate determines distribution of habitats C 4 (84-98) -Animals and plants adapt to temperature variation 16 Fall Break No Class 21 Physiological ecology: Water and energy C 4,5 -Interactions between temperature and water -Photosynthetic pathways -Heterotrophy 23 Populations C 9,10( )

7 - Population description and delineation - Variation in vital rates across ages -Growth and regulation of populations 28 Population dynamics, populations in space C 10, 11 ( ) -Environmental and demographic stochasitcity -Metapopulations 30 Competition C 12 - Mechanisms of competition - Population outcomes of competition Nov 4 MIDTERM EXAM #2 [Covers the lectures from Sept. 25th through Oct. 28th so it will cover 5 lectures by Dr. Willett and 5 by Dr. Umbanhowar (not including competition)] 6 Exploitation C 13 -Mutual interactions between exploiters and victim populations -Population dynamics of exploitation interactions 11 Symbiotic interactions: Parasitism & Mutualism C 14 ( ) -Closely interacting species C 15 ( ) -Environmental controls on interaction effects 13 Community ecology: structure and diversity C 16( ) -Definition and description of ecological communities C 19 -Diversity within communties -Disturbance 18 Biogeography C Species interactions in communties C 16 ( ) -Competition and diversity C 21 ( ) -Indirect interactions -Complexity of food webs 25 Ecosystem ecology C 20 ( ) -Ecosystem energetics C 22 ( ) -Nutrient cycles 27 Thanksgiving No Class Dec. 2 Large scale ecology C 24 ( ) -Landscape ecology C 25 ( ) -Climate change and the carbon cycle 11 FINAL EXAM 12:00-3:00 PM