Galapagos Academic Institute for the Arts and Sciences
Universidad San Francisco de Quito
Course: Evolutionary Biology
Professor: Carlos A. Valle, Ph.D.
Objective
The Galapagos Islands continue to be a "Garden of Eden" for understanding Darwin’s theory of evolution. This course emphasizes the processes and mechanisms of evolution using the Galapagos as a model textbook example. Why are there thirteen species of Darwin finches in the Galapagos, rather than a single species like in the Cocos Islands? How do we explain their current species distribution pattern throughout the Archipelago? Why is there so much intraspecific variation despite the high levels of natural selection? Do species, races and other categories make sense when confronting reality? Does it even matter in the end? Finches, tortoises, mockingbirds, land-snails and a whole array of "galapagueian actors" have much to tell us about the evolutionary process: natural selection, adaptation, random events, speciation and more. Furthermore, the interplay of evolution and the current threats that the Galapagos face will allow us to link the evolutionary concepts to crucial concerns and concepts in Conservation Biology.
Course Contents
Population genetics, quantitative inheritance and heritability of traits, theory of inbreeding and random genetic drift, founder effects, migration and gene flow. Natural selection and its measurements. The levels of selection. Types of natural selection. Natural selection and adaptation. Sexual selection. Neutral evolution. Speciation, species concepts, and intraspecific variation (polymorphisms, geographic variation, subspecies, races and ecotypes). Reproductive isolation and the origin of new species, modes of speciation, genetic theories of speciation. Adaptive radiation.
Grading
| Final Exam |
40% |
| Fieldwork Report |
30% |
| Paper presentation |
15% |
| Homework/ exercises |
15% |
Prerequisites: Two basic courses in Biology/ Ecology
Textbook
Scott Freeman, and Jon Herron, 2003. Evolutionary Analysis, 3/E, Prentice Hall.
Reading List
Weiner, J. 1995. The Beak of the Finch. Alferd A. Knopf, Inc., New York.
Grant, P.R. 1984 (or more recent edition). Ecology and Evolution of Darwin’s Finches. Princeton University Press, Princeton.
Several selected papers about evolutionary studies in Galapagos.
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