Ground Rules, exams, etc. (no

1
Course Website Bookmark http//www.zo.utexas.edu
/courses/bio301/ Download Syllabus from above
site (Contract) Exams, ground rules, discussion
sections, textbook, etc. Watch Dance Monkeys
Dance and Domino Effects videos Our one and
only but much abused Spaceship Ecology,
environment, organismic units Anthropocentrism,
wilderness, what good are rattlesnakes? Hierarchi
cal structure of biological science, snobbery
(Varanid)
Varanus eremius
2
First Exam 22 Sept. Second
Exam 27 Oct. Third Exam 1st Dec. Best 2 of
above 3 40 Discussion Sections 20 Final
Exam 12 Dec. 2-5 PM 40 No Extra
points, No Make Up Exams! Final Grades are
FINAL, non negotiable
Anolis carolinensis (Iguanid)
3
Five Lizard Clades
Agamidae 440 species Gekkota 7 Families 1536
species Iguania 12 Families 1086
species Scincidae 1600 species Varanidae 75
species
Sceloporus
Moloch
Ctenophorus
Phelsuma
Anolis
Ctenotus
Ctenotus
Varanus
4
Hierarchical Organization of the
Biological Sciences
Molecular Biology
lt Integrative Biologygt
Snobbery
5

6
8 Billion of us

7
8 Billion of us
Paul Ehrlich
8
8 Billion of us
9
8 Billion of us

10
Caribou Pribolof Islands Alaska
11
Caribou Pribolof Islands Alaska
12

13
(No Transcript)
14
Domain of Ecology
Simple versus multiple causality
15
Observation and Experiment are vital.
Scientists formulate hypotheses to explain
repeatable events. A hypothesis is tested by
confronting it with reality if it fails, it is
discarded and replaced with another, hopefully
better, hypothesis. In time, a well
supported hypothesis becomes a theory. The
scientific method is self regulating poor
hypotheses are continually replaced with
better ones as human knowledge expands and is
improved. We benefit immensely from past genius.
16
A sprinkling of past geniuses
Archimedes
Aristotle
Euclid
Socrates
Newton
Darwin
DaVinci
Einsteinn
17
Archimedes The Method
18
Archimedes (287-212 BC) The Method
19
Archimedes (287-212 BC) The Method
http//www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/32808/Ar
chimedes - ref389152
20
Evolution is not synonymous with
Natural Selection Evolution is defined as
any change in the gene pool Agents of
Evolution

• Genetic Drift (random sampling)
• Gene Flow (migration)
• Mutation Pressure
• Meiotic Drive (segregation distortion)
• Natural Selection

21
Natural Selection
Differential Reproductive Success
Struggle for Existence Survival
of the Fittest Selection results in
Adaptation (other agents of evolution do not)
(Adaptation is conformity between organism
and environment)
22
Natural Selection does not always operate via
Differential MortalityCautious long-lived
tomcat versus short-lived alley catThe
currency of Natural Selection is progeny
(offspring, babies)Not beauty, brains, or
brawnIf the ugly stupid and weak make more
babies, their genes prevail
23
Natural Selection does not always operate via
Differential MortalityCautious long-lived
tomcat versus short-lived alley catThe
currency of Natural Selection is progeny
(offspring, babies)Not beauty, brains, or
brawnIf the ugly stupid and weak make more
babies, their genes prevail
24
Darwinian Fitness ability to perpetuate genes
in the gene poolNatural Selection operates
like an efficiency expert, ferreting out the best
way to perpetuate an organisms genesNatural
Selection is however short sighted (does not
see past the next generation!)Natural
Selection is the ultimate inventor
flight,echolocation, celestial navigation,
insulation, infraredsensors, hypodermic needles,
plus all sorts of pharmaceuticals (antibiotics,
analgesics, diuretics, hormone mimics, laxitives,
tranquilizers, etc.)
25
Natural Selection is the ultimate inventor
flight, echolocation, celestial navigation,
insulation, infrared sensors, hypodermic
needles, plus all sorts of pharmaceuticals
antibiotics analgesics diuretics
hormone mimics laxatives
tranquilizers Fer-de-Lance Bothrops asper
Harry Greene
26
Nature versus Nurture Controversy
Environmentally induced
polymorphism
Daniel Otte
Kathy Williams
Syrbula, Chortophaga
27
Nature versus Nurture Controversy Environmentally
induced polymorphism
Canalization
Background Color
Brown Green
Brown Brown Green
Green
C H Waddington
28
(No Transcript)
29
Cepaea nemoralis Snails
30
Domain of Ecology
Simple versus multiple causality
31
Levels of Approach in Biology

• How? versus Why? Questions and Explanations
• Proximate and Ultimate Factors
• Mechanistic versus Strategic Perspectives
• Short-term versus long-term considerations
• Why do birds fly south in the autumn?
• Shorter day length triggers pituitary secretions
  that enhance Wanderlust.
• Winter is predictable and reduces survival. Birds
  that tended to move south escaped its icy
  clutches and survived to reproduce and left more
  genes in the population gene pool.