IPAK-EDU

Principles of Evolution

Syllabus - Fall, 2025 - Subject to Change

The primary goal of this course is to elucidate the fundamental mechanisms that underlie the complexity and diversity of life forms, with a specific focus on evolutionary theory. The program seeks to describe, predict, and understand the intricate processes that govern evolutionary changes. While the biological aspects of evolution form the core of the research that provides evidence, the program also extends its scope to explore the philosophical and existential implications of evolutionary understanding. Ultimately, the program aspires to develop a unified, evidence-based framework that can comprehensively account for the wide array of phenomena observed in the field of evolutionary biology. This multidisciplinary approach aims to bridge gaps between theoretical constructs and empirical data, fostering a holistic understanding that could have far-reaching implications for science, philosophy, and the human understanding of existence.

Students who attend this course will have the opportunity to master, in great detail, the advanced principles of evolutionary biology with a focus on the mechanisms and dynamic processes of evolutionary change over time. We will achieve this by tracing the origins of - and the evolution of - thoughts about evolution based on evidence over time.

Instructor: James Lyons-Weiler, PhD

Recommended Text:

Evolution Fifth Edition Douglas Futuyma and Mark Kirkpatrick

1. Early Ideas of Evolutionary Thought
2. Darwin and Wallace
3. Major Evolutionary Transitions (Tree of Life)
4. Major Evolutionary Transitions (Animals)
5. The Book of Life
6. Genetics Review
7. Population Genetics (Mutation, Migration, Drift, Selection, Population Size & Structure)
8. Adaptation - Natural Selection
9. Population Genetics - Fitness, Adaptive Landscapes, Fitness Tunneling
10. Selection (Individual, Group)
11. Interdemic Migration, Selection at Two Loci, Kin Selection
12. Evolution of Quantitative Traits; Norms of Reaction, Phenotypic Plasticity, Gene x Environment Interactions
13. Neutral Evolution and Nearly Neutral Evolution
14. Genetic, Genomic and Protein Evolution
15. Evolution of Gene Regulatory Networks

SEMESTER TWO WILL BE IN THE SPRING OF 2025:

1. EvoDevo
2. Competition and Coevolution
3. Speciation
4. Species Concepts
5. The Evolution of Sociality
6. Human Evolution
7. The Evolution of Consciousness
8. Evolution of Human Societies
9. Evolution and Social Issues