STAFF Faculty: Prof. David Rand, Walter Hall 202, x2890;

BioMed Center 418, x1063

email: David_Rand@brown.edu

Office Hours: Wed. & Thurs. 2:00-4:15 ( or appointment)

Teaching Assistants: Adam Fry, Walter Hall 203, x2619

Edgar Leighton, Walter Hall 203, x2619

Office Hours to be announced

This course focuses on the processes of evolution and the patterns generated by these processes. Our aim is to develop a scientific way of thinking about biological diversity rather than attempting to memorize the history of living things. If you can acquire an evolutionary "way of thinking" about the tremendous diversity of life, you will probably remember more, and be equipped to discuss things more intelligently, than if we forced you to memorize dry facts about, say, gene frequencies or the fossil record. How can we account for the extinction of dinosaurs and the existence of mites that crawl around our eyelids? How on earth did some insects come to look so much like sticks? We will seek explanations for such patterns of diversity and for the apparent "good fit" of organisms to their environment. Topics covered include elementary population genetics, the theory of evolution by natural selection, concepts of fitness and adaptation, genetic and developmental bases of evolutionary change, modes of speciation, molecular evolution, principles of systematic biology, paleontology and macroevolutionary trends in evolution, extinction and human evolution. As this list indicates, you will be introduced to the major topics within evolutionary biology: Bio 48 is a survey course. We hope that the exposure to the tremendous diversity within this discipline will illustrate why evolution is viewed as the central theme unifying all of biology. The only prerequisite is a course in Introductory Biology (Bio 20 or a score of 4 on the Biology AP test).

Lectures: MWF 9:00, Bio Med Center 139

Required Readings: Listed on the lecture outline are pages from the text (Evolutionary Analysis by Scott Freeman and Jon Herron) assigned to the lectures for a given day. For those interested in saving money, split the cost of the text with a study partner (see Study Groups below). The second major component of the required reading are Journal Articles from the primary literature are assigned for discussion section each week. These papers have been compiled into a packet, together with the Lecture Notes, which is available at the Jo-Art Copy Center (corner of Thayer and Waterman Streets). The Required Readings for a given week are indicated on the syllabus. Text versions of the Lecture Notes are available on the Bio48 web page (http://biomed.brown.edu/Courses/BIO48/BIO48.HTML). Details of how to access these and other on-line types of course information will be provided later in handouts.

Discussion Sections: Attendance at section is required. You will not pass the course if you do not attend your weekly discussion section. Sections will meet for 1.5 hours each week; the times and places of sections are indicated on the sign-up sheets that will be available during the first week of the course. Final lists will be posted outside of the lecture room on Monday, September 14. In addition to basic course review and some hands-on exercises, these sections are intended to provide an introduction to the workings of the science of evolutionary biology. There are many journals that publish the scholarly research and writings of people who call themselves evolutionary biologists. What is the nature of this science?, how is it advanced?, why do people do it? Our hope is that you will develop a better appreciation for, and understanding of, evolution by delving into the primary literature. Your textbook is one excellent overview, but there is much activity and controversy.

Leading Discussion Section and Write-up of Papers: Each student is required to lead the discussion of one of the topics for a given week in her or his section. Your presentation and discussion, and your participation in those of others, will determine part of your grade. Effective presenters and participants might be moved from a C to a B or a B to an A depending on their point totals and the nature of the grade distribution. Deadbeats may have their grade lowered. Your presentation must cover the assigned reading (in the booklet) and must involve some outside research on the topic covered by the assigned paper(s). Visual aids and show-and-tell demonstrations related to the presentation are highly recommended (see your TA or Prof. Rand for suggestions about overheads or slides).

Students will work in pairs to prepare the discussion. On the day of your presentation you must hand in to your TA a short, jointly-written paper on the topic to be discussed (about three concise, well-written pages; see below). You and your presenting partner (assigned at random by your TA from someone in your section) will develop a presentation where you take alternative views on the assigned readings as a means of understanding the background, content, and future directions of the research. The general format for both the discussion section and your short paper is as follows: 1) Describe the motivation for the article and its relationship to the lecture material (what was the intellectual context of the research or writing?, why did the authors research and write the paper?, what was the central question asked or addressed by the authors?), 2) what does the paper say? (what evidence or data were gathered to address or support their thesis?, what experiments did they do?, what was the experimental design?, what are the conclusions and central message of the paper?) 3) what should be done next? (clearly describe at least one new experiment that should be done that tests a specific hypothesis. e.g., by filling one gap in human knowledge, did other questions arise?). You need not answer all of these questions, but you should address at least one from each of the three categories in your presentation and your write-up. The final category (suggesting a new experiment) is essential.

Meet with your presenting partner and plan out a presentation where one of you will take one stand, and the other a different stand, on the Background, Experiment/Results, and Future directions described above. You don’t need to play "Good Cop / Bad Cop" with the material, but an approach where "I think X is more important vs. I think Y is more important" is a good way to organize the presentation. Remember, these section readings are intended to fit in with the lecture material, so make an effort to find connections with what you have heard in lecture. Again, talk with your TA or Prof. Rand if you have any questions about planning your presentation.

Problem Sets: Problem sets covering some of the more quantitative subjects will be required. The due dates for these are indicated on the syllabus. The problem sets provide a chance to work through some simple problems before encountering them on an exam. Most of the problem sets will be done at the CIT using some user-friendly software packages that allow us to explore evolutionary phenomena. These are available in the Bio 48 folder on either the IBM cluster server (Populus) or the Macintosh cluster server (PAUP and MacClade).

Exams and Grading: Two evening "hour" exams (7:30 PM, in Salomon 001 and Carmichael Auditorium in the Psychology Building on Waterman Street) and a final exam. The grade breakdown is as follows: Final = 40%, Hour exams, 20% each, Section 10%, Problem sets = 3% each. NOTE: while the individual problem sets represent small percentages, you CANNOT pass the course without handing in each and every assignment.

Study Groups: These are optional and are to be arranged by you and your study partner(s) (one or more people with whom you can review and study material effectively). You should try to meet once each week to go over material from the text and lectures. These groups provide a context for you to review and, more importantly, to verbalize the basic course material so that you can put thoughts into words more effectively on the exams. It is recommended that the groups go through the assigned reading material and understand the text and figures (plus the figure captions). It will be helpful to discuss the summary points at the end of the assigned chapters.

Electronic Course Conference A Bio 48 "Course Conference" account is available on the campus network. Further details will be provided on how to access this account from any computer on campus. This provides a forum for informal discussion of ideas, problems and questions related to evolutionary biology. I will read the postings to this Course Conference and answer questions or add comments to ongoing discussions. As with the Study Groups, this should provide a convenient and helpful way to practice articulating ideas and concepts that will be covered on exams.

Evolution on the Internet There is a wealth of information (and dis-information) on evolution on the World Wide Web. There are also UseNet bulletin boards focusing on Evolution, Population Biology, Molecular Evolution, etc. Links to these web pages can be found on the Bio48 web page. Here are some good web pages:

http://www.prenhall.com/freeman (then, username = beagle, password = galapagos)

Any decent web searcher will find you dozens of other web pages on related topics. Try searching on the word speciation or punctuated equilibrium or Darwin.