About the Diversity Course

Diversity of Life 177-305B is one of the 3-credit U2 courses of the general Biology program. It was first developed in 1991, when the Biology curriculum was extensively revised, and since then has evolved year by year, as all courses should. It is taught in the Redpath Museum auditorium. There are two lecturers, both from the museum: Dr Graham Bell and Dr David Green. They teach two separate, but related, blocks of material during the course. Dr Bell deals with how present diversity is maintained, and how it is described. Dr Green's material is the phylogenetic analysis of how we can analyse the ancestry of modern groups. The overall aim of the course is to provide a grounding in the general principles of the study of living diversity.

The prerequisite for the course is either Biology 177-208A (Ecology) or MSE 170-202A (The Evolving Earth).

The description from the biology Blue Book:

"This course is concerned with the description and analysis of variation and biodiversity. It falls into two main sections, dealing with phylogenetic and ecological issues.
(a) Diversity in a phylogenetic context: the diversity of groups of organisms. The generation of diversity through time at different phylogenetic scales, from gene mutation to speciation and the origin of higher taxa. Patterns of genetic and taxonomic diversity. Macroecology: the range and abundance of organisms. The interpretation of phylogenetic trees in terms of the historical patterns of speciation and extinction.
(b) Diversity in an ecological context: the diversity of places. The maintenance of diversity. Geographical patterns of diversity at different spatial scales, from local to global. Environmental structure and levels of diversity. The interpretation of distributions in terms of historical patterns of immigration and extirpation. Functional diversity and ecosystem structure. The effects of diversity on ecosystem productivity and stability. Modern biodiversity loss and its consequences.
     The lectures are supplemented by practical classes, organized on similar principles. The main topics covered are as follows. (a) Methods of phylogenetic systematics and the estimation of phylogeny. Use of phylogeny in comparative analysis of evolutionary hypotheses. (b) Estimation of diversity and interpretation of biological surveys. Relating patterns of diversity to landscape structure.."