Unit 11- Evolution and Behavior
Topics
- Emergence of evolutionary thoughts
- Lamarck
- Darwin–concepts of variation, adaptation, struggle, fitness and natural selection
- Mendelism
- Spontaneity of mutations
- The evolutionary synthesis
- Origin of cells and unicellular evolution
- Origin of basic biological molecules
- Abiotic synthesis of organic monomers and polymers
- Concept of Oparin and Haldane
- Experiment of Miller (1953)
- The first cell
- Evolution of prokaryotes
- Origin of eukaryotic cells
- Evolution of unicellular eukaryotes
- Anaerobic metabolism, photosynthesis and aerobic metabolism.
- Paleontology and evolutionary history
- The evolutionary time scale
- Eras, periods and epoch
- Major events in the evolutionary time scale
- Origins of unicellular and multicellular organisms
- Major groups of plants and animals
- Stages in primate evolution including Homo
- Molecular Evolution
- Concepts of neutral evolution, molecular divergence and molecular clocks
- Molecular tools in phylogeny, classification and identification
- Protein and nucleotide sequence analysis
- Origin of new genes and proteins
- Gene duplication and divergence
- The Mechanisms
- Population genetics – populations, gene pool, gene frequency
- Hardy-Weinberg law
- Concepts and rate of change in gene frequency through
- Natural selection
- Migration
- Random genetic drift
- Adaptive radiation and modifications
- Isolating mechanisms
- Speciation
- Allopatricity and sympatricity
- Convergent evolution
- Sexual selection
- Co-evolution
- Brain, Behavior and Evolution
- Approaches and methods in study of behaviour
- Proximate and ultimate causation
- Altruism and evolution-group selection, kin selection, reciprocal altruism
- Neural basis of learning, memory, cognition, sleep and arousal
- Biological clocks
- Development of behaviour
- Social communication
- Social dominance
- Use of space and territoriality
- Mating systems, parental investment and reproductive success
- Parental care
- Aggressive behaviour
- Habitat selection and optimality in foraging
- Migration, orientation and navigation
- Domestication and behavioral changes