An introduction to evolutionary biology: from genes to behaviour

A woman testing lake water with a colour sample board, sitting on the grass with her feet in the lake, a red bag beside her and trees in the background

Course Dates

Key Features

Welcome week (Week 0)

Purpose:

personal introductions
introducing the course
useful reading
personal objectives

Learning outcomes:

By studying this week, the students should have:

become familiar with navigating around the Virtual Learning Environment (VLE) and from VLE to links and back
test your ability to access files and the web conferencing software and sort out any problems with the help of the Technology Enhanced Learning team
learn how to look for, assess and reference internet resources
contribute to a discussion forum to introduce yourself to other students and discuss why you are interested in the course and what you hope to get out of your studies

Teaching Week 1: The origin of new traits

Purpose:

This week will introduce the terms genes, proteins and phenotypes to students, explaining how genes code for proteins and proteins build phenotypes. We will then introduce the concept of mutations generating new alleles, look at how mutations occur and explore the different possible consequences for mutation on the phenotype.

Learning outcomes:

to gain the ability to explain the relationship between genes and phenotype
to identify mutation as the source of all new traits in biology

Teaching Week 2: The spread of new traits

Purpose:

In this week, we will be introduced to the different modes of selection that can operate in natural populations and how can it affect fitness. We will look at positive and negative selection (one allele is better/worse than the rest) first. Then we will look at the mystery of why sometimes multiple alleles are maintained in populations, with sickle-cell anaemia offering a good example of balancing selection. The lecture closes by inviting students to consider whether the spread of all traits can really be explained by maximising the chance of offspring surviving, which is next week’s topic.

Learning outcomes:

to gain the ability to explain how natural selection can cause traits to spread
to explain the different effects of positive selection, negative selection and balancing selection

Teaching Week 3: More than just surviving

Purpose:

We have so far tried to explain the spread of traits by considering how they increase the probability of an organism surviving, just like Darwin did initially. This week, we look at two alternative explanations for why a trait might spread: sexual selection and genetic drift. When considering sexual selection, students will learn about the difference between intrasexual and intersexual selection and how these can lead to the evolution of traits that increase mating success despite reducing survival probability. We will also look at the idea of non-adaptive evolution, and how sometimes an allele can increase in frequency despite no survival or reproductive benefits. Iris colour variation in humans is discussed as an example of genetic drift

Learning outcomes:

to understand how sexual selection can lead to traits that do not enhance an organism’s chance of survival from spreading
to understand how genetic drift can cause non-adaptive evolution to occur

Teaching Week 4: The evolution of behaviour

Purpose:

Behavioural adaptation is the most complex and impressive form of adaptation. In this lecture, we look at how the cost-benefit framework of optimally modelling, along with the concept of trade-offs, can let us understand the evolution of animal behaviour. We will look at a worked example – how high should a crow fly? The concept of proximate and ultimate causation is also discussed here, helping students to see how why questions can be answered in biology.

Learning outcomes:

to explain how the cost-benefit framework of optimality modelling can be used to predict which behaviours do or do not evolve
to gain an understanding of the concept of trade-offs in evolutionary biology

Teaching Week 5: Applying evolutionary biology

Purpose:

Evolutionary biology is a fascinating science in its own right, but this final teaching week helps learners see some of the practical applications of what they have been learning about. We look at evolutionary medicine (e.g. the Old Friends hypothesis, antibiotic resistance, tumour resistance to chemotherapy) and predicting responses to climate change. We gesture towards some of the many other applications possible, from reconstructing galaxy evolution to understanding the evolution of Red Riding Hood.