BB512: Population and Evolution (5 ECTS)

STADS: 04011401

Level
Bachelor course

Teaching period
The course is offered in the autumn semester.

Teacher responsible
Email: jones@biology.sdu.dk

Timetable
Show entire timetable
Show personal time table for this course.

Prerequisites:
None

Academic preconditions:
None

Course introduction
Population biology and evolution are the foundations for understanding biological phenomena including biological diversity, population fluctuations and extinctions, and interactions among species. Knowledge of there concepts has practical applications in population and resource management, nature conservation, medicine and epidemiology, animal/plant breeding, etc. This course will explain the key processes in population biology and evolution at the individual, population, and species levels. It will cover the tools for understanding these procesess including simple theoretical and mathematical models.

Expected learning outcome
Upon completion of the course the student is expected to:

• express the importance of key mechanisms and processes in population biology
• identify and apply fundamental concepts in population biology
• critically interpret observations of the natural world in the light of population biology theory
• express the importance of key micro and macroevolutionary mechanisms and processes
• identify and apply fundamental concepts in evolution
• critically interpret observations of the natural world in the light of evolutionary theory

Subject overview
The following topics will be discussed:

Population biology:
 - models of population growth/decline
 - population extinction
 - intraspecific competition
 - age/stage-structured population models
 - interspecific competition
 - predation and parasitism
 
Evolution
 - adaptive and neutral evolution
 - natural selection and genetic drift
 - genetic impact of natural selection
 - origin of genetic variation
 - maintenance of genetic variation
 - genotype-phenotype map
 - phenotypic plasticity
 - life-history evolution
 - the evolution of sex
 - sexual selection
 - speciation
 - coevolution
 - phylogenetic trees

Literature
There isn't any litterature for the course at the moment.

Website
This course uses e-learn (blackboard).

Prerequisites for participating in the exam
Mandatory assignments during the semester, which must be passed in order to participate in the final examination (04011412)

Assessment and marking:
Written exam with a mixture of short answers and multiple choice. 7-mark scale. Internal censor.

Expected working hours
The teaching method is based on three phase model.
Intro phase: 22 hours
Skills training phase: 22 hours

Educational activities Study phase: 5 hours

Language
This course is taught in Danish or English, depending on the lecturer.

Course enrollment
See deadline of enrolment.

Tuition fees for single courses
See fees for single courses.