EEB 122: Principles of Evolution, Ecology and Behavior (Spring, 2009)

Syllabus

Professor:

Stephen C. Stearns, Edward P. Bass Professor of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Yale University

Description:

This course presents the principles of evolution, ecology, and behavior for students beginning their study of biology and of the environment. It discusses major ideas and results in a manner accessible to all Yale College undergraduates. Recent advances have energized these fields with results that have implications well beyond their boundaries: ideas, mechanisms, and processes that should form part of the toolkit of all biologists and educated citizens.

Texts:

Cotgreave, Peter and Irwin Forseth. Introductory Ecology. Oxford: Blackwell Science Ltd, 2002.

Krebs, John R. and Nicholas B. Davies. An Introduction to Behavioral Ecology, 3rd ed. Oxford: Blackwell Science Ltd, 1993.

Stearns, Stephen C. and Rolf Hoekstra. Evolution: An Introduction, 2nd ed. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2005.

Requirements:

There are two midterms and a paper. The sections are Writing Intensive and require writing exercises culminating in one 15-20 page review paper or research proposal in which you utilize readings from the original scientific literature to address a question that you pose. The course grade consists of 25% from each midterm and 50% from the essay/section grade.

Special feature: The course is designed to elicit your own, original questions about evolution, ecology, and behavior through interactions with a website featuring video and still images from the Galapagos and issues and questions posed by recent papers from the primary literature. Your writing project and your take-home final will address questions you posed yourself, then refined in response to feedback from your TF.

You may view the Galapagos site at http://cmi2.yale.edu/galapagos_public

Grading:

Midterm examination 1: 25%
Midterm examination 2: 25%
Paper: 50%