Global Arc

An examination of how life evolved and how organisms interact to shape the natural world. Why did the dinosaurs disappear? What mechanisms can produce the chameleon's camouflage or the giraffe's long neck? Why do ecosystems contain a wide diversity of species when competition between them should eliminate all but a few? How will life on earth change with increasing human domination of the planet? These and other questions related to the origin and future of life, conflict and cooperation between species, and dynamics of entire ecosystems will be explored. This course is required for EEB majors and fulfills a requirement for medical school.

Integrating knowledge from fields such as genetics and physiology, this course prepares students for advanced courses in ecology and evolution. Using an innovative teaching style, the instructors engage students in research projects that integrate lectures and labs. Four modules of three weeks each cover: molecular evolution in an ecological context; behavioral ecology; the genetic basis of phenotypic variation; and the physiology of life history. Students will conduct scientific experiments, using birds and mammals as experimental organisms in the ecological sections of the course, and their own genetic information in the genomics sections.

Students will use ecological principles and policy analysis to examine conflicts between human activities such as farming, forestry, and infrastructure development, and the conservation of species and ecosystem services. Two lectures, one preceptorial.

All life on Earth has evolved and continues to evolve. This course will explore evolution at both the molecular and organismal level. We will examine the features that are universal to all life and that document its descent from a common ancestor that lived over 3 billion years ago. Topics include the origin of life, the evidence for natural selection, methods for reconstructing evolutionary history using DNA, population genetics, genome evolution, speciation, extinction, and human origins. This course will provide you with the basic tools to understand how evolution works and can produce the incredible diversity of life on our planet.

An examination of the mechanisms and evolution of the behavior of humans and other animals. Topics include the sensory worlds of animals, the nature of instinct, neural mechanisms of perception, comparative studies of communication, learning, cognition, mate choice, and social behavior, and the biology of human development and language acquisition. Two 90-minute lectures, one preceptorial.

The course focuses on the mechanisms and evolution of behavior, especially innate predispositions and programming, and their interaction with learning. Topics include the sensory bases of behavior, how complex behavior such as navigation communication, and learning is organized, social behavior, behavioral ecology, mate choice, cognition, and human behavior. Labs emphasize hypothesis formation and testing, using mammals, birds, fish, and insects. Students taking the lab are excused from precepts.

We will learn how non-human primate societies are shaped by evolutionary history, selection pressures across environments, and ecological processes. We will consider how evolutionary and ecological processes in primate populations are changing in response to human effects on them. Topics will include primate evolution, seasonality in primate ecology, primate social and mating systems, ethnoprimatology and the human-non-human primate interface, conservation of primate habitats including those beyond the terra firma realm, and the relevance of the study of primatology for understanding ourselves.

How does a swarm of honeybees collectively decide on a new site for their hive? When a mother mouse protects her young, are her behaviors genetically determined? Why do ravens share food with each other? This course is an introduction to behavioral ecology, which asks why animals act the way they do, how their behaviors have been shaped by natural selection, and how these behaviors influence their surroundings. We will first discuss behaviors at the individual level, then move to reproductive behaviors. The final section of the course will focus on social evolution, the origins of cooperation, and human behavioral ecology.

The study of how animals function with emphasis on the integration of physiological processes at the cellular, organ, and whole organism levels in ecological and evolutionary contexts. Comparisons among species and higher taxa are used to illustrate general physiological principles and their evolutionary correlates. Three lectures, one three-hour laboratory. Prerequisite: 210 or 211.

How do wild organisms interact with each other, their physical environments, and human societies? Lectures will examine a series of fundamental topics in ecology -- herbivory, predation, competition, mutualism, species invasions, biogeographic patterns, extinction, climate change, and conservation, among others--through the lens of case studies drawn from all over the world. Readings will provide background information necessary to contextualize these case studies and clarify the linkages between them. Precepts and fieldwork will explore the process of translating observations and data into an understanding of how the natural world works.