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Is long-term, large-scale evolution, including the evolutionary developement of novel features (e.g., eyes, flight, adaptation to life on land), dominantly determined by biological processes or by geological processes? Biological processes include competition between species, individuals, or even genes. Geological processes include global environmental changes, such as cooling or warming, and concentrations of oxygen and CO2 in the atmosphere. Both processes play a role in long-term evolution, bu t there is serious debate regarding their relative importance. In this course we will study the development of biological diversity over geological time, with emphasis on the origin of the various Phyla (groups of organisms with fundamentally different body-plans) and their familial relations. We will pay particular attention to the integration of research by paleontologists and molecular biologists and the influence of these ideas and cladistic analysis on the understanding of evolution on long time s cales
Unless preregistered students attend the first class meeting or communicate directly with the instructor prior to the first class, they will be dropped from the class list. NOTE: Students must still submit a completed Drop/Add form to the Registrar's Office.
COURSE FORMAT: Lecture/Discussion
Level: UGRD Credit: 1 Gen Ed Area Dept: NSM E&ES Grading Mode: Graded
Prerequisites: E&ES101 OR E&ES199 Links to Web Resources For This Course.
Last Updated on MAR-19-2002
Copyright Wesleyan University, Middletown, Connecticut, 06459