Lecture: Advanced-level Evolutionary Biology (Autumn Semester 2019)

Information about the lecture of PD Dr. Lukas Schärer (lukas.scharer-at-unibas.ch, http://evolution.unibas.ch/scharer/index.htm)

Why unicellular or multicellular?

Why such complex genitalia?

Location and Time of the lecture

The 2-hour (2x45 minutes) lecture takes place weekly on Wednesdays from 14:15-16:00 in the small lecture hall (Kleiner Hörsaal) of the Vesalianum (Vesalgasse 1, first floor, enter the main building). The first lecture takes place on Wednesday, 18. September 2019.

Aim of the lecture

The aim of the lecture is to provide an in-depth introduction to the main concepts in evolutionary biology and the most important evolutionary mechanisms. The participants will learn to approach biological problems and phenomena from an evolutionary perspective, and they will read original research articles and discuss these in class.

If you want to attend this lecture you should ideally have previously attended the lecture 'Evolutionsbiologie' of Profs. Ebert & Salzburger.

The following topics will likely be covered

levels of selection
evolution of individuality
evolution of development
origins of sexual reproduction
maintenance of sexual reproduction
genomic conflict and genomic imprinting
coevolution
sexual selection
sexual conflict
sex allocation
sex in hermaphrodites
cultural evolution

Course materials

The scripts will usually be uploaded here by Tuesday evening before each Wednesday lecture.

Week	Date	Lecture (Wednesdays from 14:15-16:00)	Script	Mandatory Reading	Suggested Reading
1	18.9.	Brief Introduction to the Course & Levels of Selection	Levels.pdf	Reeve&Keller1999.pdf	-
2	25.9.	Evolution of Individuality	Individuality.pdf	fromBuss1987.pdf	Buss1987.pdf
3	2.10.	Evolution of Development	Development.pdf	Homework	Cardona&al2005.pdf Pongratz&Michiels2003.pdf
4	9.10.	Origin of Sexual Reproduction	Origins.pdf	MaynardSmith&Szathmary1995.pdf	Hickey&Rose1988.pdf
5	16.10.	Maintenance of Sexual Reproduction	Maintenance.pdf Maintenance_updated.pdf	West&al1999.pdf	MaynardSmith&Szathmary1999.pdf
6	23.10.	Genomic Conflict	Genomic_Conflict.pdf	fromBurt&Trivers2006.pdf	Haig1996.pdf
7	30.10.	Coevolution	Coevolution.pdf	none	Janzen&al2010.pdf http://unionid.missouristate.edu/
8	6.11.	Sexual Selection	Sexual_Selection.pdf	fromBirkhead2000.pdf	complete Birkhead 2000 Jennions&Kokko2010_Chapter.pdf
9	13.11.	Sexual Conflict	Sexual_Conflict.pdf	Homework	Chapman&al2003.pdf Chapman2006.pdf
10	20.11.	Sex Allocation	Sex_Allocation.pdf	Queller2006.pdf	Munday&al2006.pdf Fig wasp movie (87.6MB)
11	27.11.	Sex in Simultaneous Hermaphrodites	Sex_Hermaphrodites.pdf	none	Michiels1998.pdf Schärer&Ramm2016.pdf
12	4.12.	Cultural Evolution	Cultural_Evolution.pdf	-	-
13	11.12.
14	18.12.	Examination

Literature

Some of the lectures refer to the book "Evolution: an introduction" by Stearns & Hoekstra (Oxford University Press, 2. Edition). Further book chapters and original research articles will be distributed on this page during the semester.

Examination

In order to pass the course each student has to pass the examination (attending the lectures themselves is not mandatory). The written examination will be held in the last week of the semester during the normal time of the lecture in the usual lecture hall.