BIO 303 - Evolution

Evolution is the central unifying theory underlying all the modern biological sciences. It is the scientific explanation for the diversification of life as we know it, and can provide profound and sometimes surprising insights into why the natural world is the way that it is. This course explores in detail the major concepts of modern evolutionary biology, including the history of evolutionary thinking, what evolution is, the overwhelming evidence for evolution, the basics of inferring and using phylogenies, how the mechanisms of evolution work and have led to the incredible adaptations and diversification of life at multiple levels, the profound insights from molecular and evolutionary genomics, and how the application of evolutionary thinking is used to inform the modern biological sciences. The goal of this course is to provide a solid foundation in understanding what evolution is, how it works, and how to view the world through the prism of evolution.

Prerequisites
One 200-level Biology course or Permission of Instructor

Credits 4

Notes
BIO 211 Genetics and an introductory statistics course, preferably BIO 241 Biological Data Analysis, strongly recommended though not required.

Students that took BIO 298 Introduction to Evolutionary Biology can not take this course.

Area
Natural Science

Division
Natural Science

Compass Attributes
Natural Science