Evolutionary Ecology

Subtopics

• Evolutionary forces, selection & response, heritability
• proximate/ultimate causation example - bat sonar 1, 2, 3, 4
• Thomson's gazelle & cheetah example
• adaptive radiation example - WP finch (evolved to fill an empty niche after colonizing island with no woodpeckers)
• Florida panther genetic drift example
• Biston betularia color selection example (see map on p.59 of Kettlewell's original paper)
• Fox color selection example (artificial selection by humans), 
• Maze-learning heritability in rats example

Reading

• Chapter 5

Overheads

• OH set 1
• OH set 2

Population Simulation Model Exercise (out of class)

Evolutionary forces and population differentiation using the program GenX. Note that GenX does not run on Macs, but you can use a PC in the MSU computer labs.  With the new version of windows you can run the program just by clicking on the GenX link, saving the file (in the downloads folder or on the desktop) and then double clicking it.

There is no specific item to turn in from this exercise.  Work through it until you have a good understanding of interactions between natural selection, genetic drift and isolation to prepare for a short quiz.  HW will be explained is assigned Wednesday 1/22. Quiz over this assignment will be at the start of class onFriday 1/24.