Developing Marine Ecosystems (February 11-15)
Your first lecture examination is on Friday, February 15. For preparation, linked here is a sample test and the Fall 2018 student HOL test #1 answers. I highly recommend reading it through. The student...
View ArticleFrom Fins to Feet: Early Vertebrate Evolution (February 18-22)
This week we return to the Paleozoic and examine developing marine communities, followed by a discussion of the causes of the Permian Mass Extinctions — the greatest disaster in the History of Life....
View ArticleThe Amniotic Egg: Amphibians to Reptiles (February 25 – March 1)
I’m ignoring the fact that we’re still a day behind, alas. Please review the links for last week so you’re up to speed on the amphibians. Their descendants the reptiles are an enormously successful...
View ArticlePlate Tectonics (March 4-8)
Our primary topic this week is the Theory of Plate Tectonics, with an emphasis on how the dynamic Earth has affected the evolution of life. We can start with this beautiful world map, showing...
View ArticleJurassic Park, etc.: The Evolution of Reptiles (March 25-29)
This week we return to those wonderful reptiles, finally covering the dinosaurs. As you may imagine, the Web is rich in sites about these beasts. Some of these pages are excellent, some are horrible,...
View ArticlePart II of The Evolution of Reptiles; Early Mammals (April 1-5)
This week we will start by exploring the development of flying vertebrates, emphasizing pterosaurs. Mammals evolved so gradually from the reptiles that it becomes difficult to say when the first mammal...
View ArticleThe Greening of the Earth: Evolution of Plants (April 8-12)
Plants have been in this course for awhile as a leafy background to tetrapod evolution, but now it is time to take them seriously. The best place to start a general survey of our very distant green...
View ArticleCatastrophe Again: The Cretaceous Mass Extinctions (April 15-19)
The story of the Cretaceous Mass Extinctions is amazing. The “Impact Hypothesis” was developed at the University of California, Berkeley, in 1980 when I was there as a graduate student (to my great...
View ArticleOur Cenozoic Mammalian Cousins (April 22 & 24)
We had our introduction to mammals back in the Triassic. They were ratty little critters then, but now that the non-avian dinosaurs are gone our mammals have become very serious and prolific. So many...
View ArticleEyes, brains and thumbs: the wonders of primate evolution (April 29 – May 3)
During our last week we will concentrate on primate and specifically human evolution. We look closely at our own lineage not just because it is of immediate interest to us, but also so we can directly...
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