Course Schedule with Readings and Pre-reading Quizzes in Context WG

NOTE CAREFULLY that a Pre-reading Quiz comes due on 7 Mondays and on 2 Wednesdays during the term. Quiz
details are posted in the Pre-readings and Quizzes folder on our Connect site. All responsibility for quiz preparation and
timely completion of quizzes rests with the student.
Textbook section-numbers are self-explanatory; my Background Documents (BD) are in a folder on our Connect page.
Important: a) these required readings are the minimum you should be doing. In order to understand what is listed in this
table, you will benefit from reading more widely than these portions alone;
b) readings, like course coverage in general, must be cumulative you cannot expect to comprehend later
material unless you retain mastery of the earlier readings.
c) slideshow coverage may jump ahead or lag behind the list below so it will be advisable to read further
ahead than just the next weeks assignment to be sure of having covered upcoming topics in time.

Wk

dates

4-8J

11-15J

18-22J

25-29J

1-5F

8-12F

Fri 12F
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15-19F

Lecture topics (coverage in slideshows based on readings)

Course structure and requirements; intro to biology/rise of
scientific thought; key advances and why they matter; local intro
to ecology; predation as an evolutionary force
above continued, as required for completion;
Learning Activity on experimental design
intro to genetics from prehistory to today; preformation-vs.epigenesis controversy; cultural misappropriations of the topic
Mitosis & meiosis; pure strains and crosses, back- and testcrosses, mono-, di-, and tri-hybrid crosses and probabilities;
problem solving; Wed 27th is RG-question-selection day
Problem-solving continued; sex-linkage, pedigrees, pleiotropy
etc.; discussion may occur in class on solving Ch. 13 questions
HOLIDAY ON THE MONDAY; then on W/F:
Genes & evolution what Hardy and Weinberg were on about
Common midterm in the evening details TBA
MIDTERM BREAK WEEK

intro to evolution; connections to geology, astronomy, etc.; (i.e.

independent lines of evidence); implications for society, religion
Historic biodiversity, a tour of common threads within variation;
8 29F-4M lateral gene transfer, endosymbiosis, and macroevolution (topics
may run into next week)
Natural selection (and other mechanisms); fitness (and tradeoffs,
9
7-11M revisiting life history theory); shifts in allele frequencies; selection
modes and speciation (topics may run into next week)
End of evolution coverage as required; intro to ecology; climate,
10 14-18M nutrients, & other forces influencing species richness (S); global
biodiversity patterns
Fri 18M
Common midterm in the evening details TBA
Community structure; biotic-abiotic forces & niche theory; roles
11 21-25M of organisms in ecosystems; disturbance and recovery;
7

22-26F

HOLIDAY ON THE FRIDAY

12
13

HOLIDAY ON THE MONDAY; above continued, as required for

28M-1A completion; population ecology: growth modes, birth/death rates
and regulation; life histories
above continued, as required for completion; integration of
4-8A
ecology, genetics, and evolution using animal behaviour

Readings by text-section or
WG Background-Document
(whether for a PRQ or not!)
1.3, 1.5, 53.1 (Consumption
section), 53.4, 55.5; WGBDWhat is science?
above, and WGBDExperimental Design

Pre-reading Quiz
closes:
No PRQ
No PRQ

13.1, WGBD-Ethics

No PRQ

12.1-12.2, 13 (all); WGBDDivision

Noon 25 Jan

13.5; WGBD-Solving

No PRQ attempt
Ch. 13 questions

12.2-12.3, 25.1, 25.3-25.6.

Noon Wed 10 Feb

All coverage through week 6.

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24.1, 24.5, 27.1-27.2; WGBDAdaptive, WGBD-Limits

27.2-27.4, 30.3, 31.3, 32.3;
33.3, 33.4; 34.3. 34.4; WGBDPatterns, WGBD-Extinction
24.2-24.4, 25.2-25.5, 26.1-26.3;
WGBD-Interactions, WGBDSpeciation

Noon 22 Feb
Noon 29 Feb
Noon 7 Mar

50.1-50.4, 54.2, 55.1-55.4;

WGBD-Ecology terms

Noon 14 Mar

All coverage, weeks 7-10.

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53.1-53.3, 50.5; WGBD-Niches

& interactions; WGBD-Stability

Noon 21 Mar

52.1 (p.1145 on), 52.2 (but

exclude Box 52.1); WGBDDensity; WGBD-Life history

Noon Wed 30 Mar

51.1, 51.3

Noon 4 Apr