course-documents

Syllabus

BIOL 465X/EEOB 565X, Macroevolution Spring 2022

Tuesday/Thursday, 2:10-3:30p.m., Bessey Hall 203

Course Website

https://eeob-macroevolution.github.io

The course website contains links to all of the information you will need to navigate this course.

Canvas Page

We will also provide some information via the course Canvas page (for content that cannot be shared publicly). Additionally, you will use the Canvas page to submit graded materials.

https://canvas.iastate.edu/courses/89027

Instructors

All office hours are by appointment.

• Dr. Dean Adams (dcadams@iastate.edu)
• Dr. Tracy Heath (phylo@iastate.edu)

Course Description

The history and diversity of life on earth; evolutionary patterns and processes above the species level. Examine diversity from a phylogenetic perspective. Empirical exercises include: phylogeny estimation, ancestral states, estimating diversification rates, evaluating the tempo and mode of evolution, biogeographic patterns, and trait associations across the tree of life. (Cr. 3. Prereq.: Biol 315)

Format: This course will be held in person unless otherwise specified.

Course Materials

Readings from the primary literature, lecture slides, and tutorials will all be distributed on the course website: https://eeob-macroevolution.github.io

Course Outcomes

Upon completion of the course, students will:

• Understand patterns of diversity in the fossil record, and changes in that diversity over time
• Understand macroevolutionary patterns and processes, and the difference between gradualism, stasis, and punctuated equilibrium
• Become familiar with ‘tree thinking’, and understand the principles of using a phylogenetic perspective to address evolutionary questions in biology
• Gain experience in applying cutting-edge phylogenetic methods for testing hypotheses in macroevolution

Course Objectives

• Be able to explain the history of life on earth, including major extinction events
• Know the concepts of gradualism, stasis, and punctuated equilibrium and their importance
• Understand the concepts of tempo and mode as applied to species diversification and morphological evolution
• Become familiar with statistical phylogeny estimation methods and be able to apply them to biological data
• Know how to estimate diversification rates and how to compare them
• Understand the major macroevolutionary models of trait evolution, including Brownian motion, Ornstein-Uhlenbeck, and early-burst models
• Know how to implement the phylogenetic comparative method for evaluating macroevolutionary trends across a phylogeny

Course Schedule

A detailed schedule the course can be found here:

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1Kpu24NKe0pVijRrrB_FXaDph3pNkn0N4iB-KqAoamME/edit?usp=sharing

Additionally, we will provide links to slides and other information on the course website activities page:

https://eeob-macroevolution.github.io/Activities

Grading

Final grades will be based on three main course components, with undergraduates and graduate students evaluated using separate criteria for participation and the final project.

• Midterm = 20%
• Participation in discussions and practicum = 40%
• Final project = 40%

Discussion Participation – Undergraduate students must submit at least one question via email to both instructors (dcadams@iastate.edu, phylo@iastate.edu) for every paper assigned for discussion (see course schedule). Additionally, undergraduates should attempt to participate in the discussion of the paper in class. Graduate students must actively participate in and help the instructors lead the in-class discussions of the course materials.

Praciticum Participation – The in-class practicum exercises will all include synthesis questions that can be answered once the exercise is completed. All students must submit their answers to these questions on the course [Canvas] site.

Final Research Project

Research projects will be conducted during the second half of the course. After the mid-term, the course will consist of applied topics and software demonstrations. Students may select any of these topics as the basis of their project, and will conduct an analysis on real or simulated data. The final project will consist of three components:

1. A 1-page summary of the project that provides the background and motivation of the study (due on March 22, 2020).
2. A 10-minute presentation (with 2 minutes for questions), these presentations will be given to the entire class on May 3rd and 5th.
3. All data and script files needed to execute the analyses (graduate students).

Grading Scale

Grade	Percentage (p)
A	p ≥ 93
A-	90 ≤ p < 93
B+	87 ≤ p < 90
B	83 ≤ p < 87
B-	80 ≤ p < 83
C+	77 ≤ p < 80
C	73 ≤ p < 78
C-	70 ≤ p < 73
D+	67 ≤ p < 70
D	63 ≤ p < 67
D-	60 ≤ p < 63
F	p < 60