Handbook : Unit informationEdith Cowan University

School: Science

This unit information may be updated and amended immediately prior to semester. To ensure you have the correct outline, please check it again at the beginning of semester.

• Unit Title

  Evolution and Systematics

• Unit Code

  SCI3112

• Year

  2017

• Enrolment Period

  1

• Version

  1

• Credit Points

  15

• Full Year Unit

  N

• Mode of Delivery

  On Campus
  

• Unit Coordinator

  Dr Kristina Louise LEMSON

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Description

Evolution is considered the unifying concept of biology, and in this unit students explore the basis of its application to the understanding of relationships among organisms. The emphasis is on the integration of fundamental evolutionary concepts and the application of evolutionary ideas and methods to questions in systematics. The relevance and use of systematic thinking and phylogenetic methods in conservation biology, ecology, medicine and behavioural sciences will also be discussed.

Prerequisite Rule

Students must have passed 2 units from SCI2116, SCI2117

Learning Outcomes

On completion of this unit students should be able to:

1. Apply phylogenetic thinking to problems in fields such as ecology and conservation.
2. Construct data-appropriate matrices, generate phylogenetic trees from them using appropriate tools, and present and interpret those trees.
3. Critically analyse species concepts, and identify the contexts in which each is useful.
4. Define and describe the scope and tasks of biological systematics, and its relationship with evolutionary theory.
5. Derive phylogenetic hypotheses that can be tested by analysis.
6. Explain and demonstrate the general principles of phylogenetic analysis as applied to both morphological and molecular data.
7. Identify and explain the theoretical foundation of phylogenetic systematics.

Unit Content

1. Characters and matrices: morphological character delineation and scoring; characteristics of molecular data; use of character matrix building software.
2. Evolution as the unifying principle of biology.
3. Fundamental theoretical concepts of systematics: characters and states; homology and analogy; monophyly, paraphyly, polyphyly and homoplasy.
4. Interpretation of phylogenetic trees: tree statistics; species trees, gene trees and other forms; character mapping; inferring ancestral states, evolutionary relationships and phylogeography.
5. Methods of tree construction: parsimony (cladistics), Bayesian and other approaches; use of tree building and tree visualisation software.
6. Species: biological, morphological, evolutionary, phylogenetic and other species concepts, and their applications.
7. The roles and application of systematics: classification and nomenclature; DNA barcoding; evolutionary ecology, conservation, biogeography and medicine.
8. The scope, tasks and applications of biological systematics.

Additional Learning Experience Information

Tutorials, lab classes, online activities, directed reading.

Assessment

GS1 GRADING SCHEMA 1 Used for standard coursework units

Students please note: The marks and grades received by students on assessments may be subject to further moderation. All marks and grades are to be considered provisional until endorsed by the relevant Board of Examiners.

Due to the professional competency skill development associated with this Unit, student attendance/participation within listed in-class activities and/or online activities including discussion boards is compulsory. Students failing to meet participation standards as outlined in the unit plan may be awarded an I Grade (Fail - incomplete). Students who are unable to meet this requirement for medical or other reasons must seek the approval of the unit coordinator.

Core Reading(s)

• Dobzhansky, T. (1973). Nothing in Biology Makes Sense Except in the Light of Evolution. American Biology Teacher, 35, 125–129.
• Losos, J. B. B., David A. Futuyma, D. J. H., Hopi E. Lenski, R. E. P., & Catherine L. Whitlock, M. C. (2014). (D. A. B. Jonathan B. Losos, H. E. H. Douglas J. Futuyma, A. J. M. Richard E. Lenski, D. S. Catherine L. Peichel, & M. C. Whitlock, Eds.), The Princeton guide to evolution (pp. xiii, 853 ). Princeton, New Jersey : Princeton University Press.

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