BIOL 355 - Ecology and Evolution of Sexual Reproduction

Semester Offered: Fall
1 unit(s)

Sex: “nothing in life is more important, more interesting - or troublesome.” This quotation from Olivia Judson, Ph.D., (a.k.a. Dr. Tatiana) is just one recent example of the long-standing fascination that ecologists and evolutionary biologists have had with sexual reproduction. This course begins with the question: What is sex? We then examine the current status of competing hypotheses for the evolution of sex, and then turn our attention to the myriad ecological and evolutionary consequences of sexual reproduction. We consider such questions as: Why are there only two sexes? Why do males and females look and behave differently? When is it advantageous to produce more sons than daughters (or vice versa)? When is it advantageous to be a hermaphrodite or to change sex? To address such questions in a biologically rigorous way, we need to draw on a wide range of theoretical work and empirical evidence from cellular and molecular biology, genetics, developmental biology, ecology, and evolutionary biology. Mark Schlessman.

Prerequisite(s): Two units of 200-level biology courses, preferably including one or more of the following: BIOL 208, BIOL 226, BIOL 241, or Genetics (BIOL 238, BIOL 244 or BIOL 248).

Two 2-hour periods.

Course Format: CLS