Rethinking Genome Evolution
The genome of any organism is extraordinarily complex, with thousands of genes which interact in a variety of ways (such as turning one another on and off), as well as many “non-gene” components. Genome complexity also varies greatly among species, but more complex organisms don't necessarily have more complex genomes. Why are genomes so complex, how did complex genomes evolve, why does genome complexity vary among species, and why is that complexity structured in the way it is? Michael Lynch’s theoretical and empirical research addresses these questions, and suggests some controversial answers, in which natural selection plays a surprisingly small role.
Michael Lynch is a Distinguished Professor of Biology at Indiana University. He is President-Elect of the Society for Molecular Biology and Evolution, and Past President of the American Genetic Association and the Society for the Study of Evolution.
Lecture:
"The Origins of Genome Architecture"
Tue., Feb. 24, noon, BI 211
Note: This talk is rescheduled from its original date in Jan.
On Doing Your Own Thing
In the Origin of Species Darwin set out to explain how new species originate from existing ones. He wasn't able to completely solve this complex puzzle, but evolutionary biologists today are much closer to piecing together the answer. One important piece that Darwin missed is that it's often advantageous to do your own thing. The best way to succeed in the "struggle for existence" is often to switch rather than fight: to make your living in a different way than others, thereby avoiding competition. Mario Pineda-Krch's research is devoted to identifying the circumstances under which different species evolve because being different makes you fitter.
Mario Pineda-Krch is an ecological and evolutionary theoretician. He is a Research Associate at the University of Alberta.
Lecture:
“Ecological dynamics and the basis for sympatric phenotypic diversification”
Wed. Nov. 18, 4 pm, BI 211
What Darwin Didn’t Know
Darwin’s own ability to explain why organisms look the way they do was limited by lack of knowledge of how organisms develop from conception to adulthood. On the one hand, developmental processes determine the kinds of organisms that can be “built”; what cannot develop cannot evolve. But on the other hand, developmental processes are themselves products of evolution. This reciprocal relationship lies at the heart of evolutionary developmental biology, and Ehab Abouheif is a leader in the field. Dr. Abouheif will speak on a striking example of the power of developmental processes: sterile workers in ants. Sterile workers were an evolutionary puzzle for Darwin, because it is difficult to see how forgoing reproduction could be favored by selection. Further, we now know that genetically-identical eggs can develop into either sterile workers or reproductives, depending on developmental cues. How does this developmental system work, and how did it evolve?
Ehab Abouheif holds a Canada Research Chair in Evolutionary Developmental Biology and is an Alfred P. Sloan Research Fellow at McGill University.
Lecture:
"Darwin’s great dilemma: the evolution and development of sterile worker castes in ants"
Tue., Feb. 3, 4 pm, BI 211
What Females Want
Charles Darwin developed the hypothesis of sexual selection to explain the evolution of showy ornaments such as the male peacock's tail, which is apparently detrimental to survival but which is favored by selection because females prefer showy males. But in many species, males lack showy ornaments. Does this mean that females of these species aren't choosy about their mates? Or are females choosing based on subtler criteria? For over 20 years, John Byers has been studying the pronghorn of western Montana to address this question.
John Byers is a Professor of Biological Sciences at the University of Idaho. He is the author of numerous articles and several books, including Built for Speed: A Year in the Life of Pronghorn.
Lecture:
“Good genes: sexual selection without ornaments”
Wed. Oct. 21, 4 pm, BI 211
The (Evolutionary) Battle of the Sexes
Darwin was fascinated by organisms with dramatic, sex-specific features that appeared maladaptive, such as the colorful tails of male peacocks. Darwin explained such features as reflecting selection pressures imposed by the mating preferences of the opposite sex. That one sex could cause the other to evolve otherwise-maladaptive features was an early hint that reproduction is not always a fully cooperative joint venture. Recently, a growing body of evidence has shown that the evolutionary interests of males and females often diverge. Locke Rowe’s research has been central to this emerging understanding of the “evolutionary battle of the sexes.”
Locke Rowe holds a Canada Research Chair in Evolutionary Ecology at the University of Toronto. He is the co-author, with Göran Arnqvist, of Sexual Conflict, and is the recipient of numerous university, provincial, and professional society awards.
Lecture:
"Pattern and process of sexual conflict"
Fri., Feb. 13, 4 pm, MFH 164
This event is the 24th Annual Darwin’s Birthday Seminar
"Morphospace": The Final Frontier
Species come in all shapes and sizes. All biologists, including Darwin, have been struck by this seemingly limitless morphological diversity. But is this diversity really limitless? Has evolution produced all possible forms? Or has evolution explored only certain places in "morphospace," and if so, what does this reveal about the processes driving evolutionary diversification?
Robert Ricklefs is an internationally-leading ecologist and ornithologist. He is the Curators' Professor of Biology at the University of Missouri-St. Louis. He is a member of the US National Academy of Sciences, the recipient of several awards, and the author of numerous articles and the textbook Ecology.
Lecture:
“Evolutionary diversification and the filling of ecological niche space”
Wed. Oct. 14, 4 pm, BI 211
Watching Evolution in Real Time
Darwin thought that evolution by natural selection was a slow process that could not be directly observed. But “slow” is relative; an eon to a virus or bacterium is a few weeks or months to us. Paul Turner studies microbial evolution in the lab in real time, addressing questions ranging from why sex evolved to the evolution of virulence in pathogens.
Paul Turner is an Associate Professor of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology at Yale University. He is the author of numerous articles.
Lecture:
CANCELLED - TO BE RESCHEDULED FOR APRIL 2010
Evolution and Race
Historically, Darwin’s ideas of evolution and natural selection were widely believed to have strong implications for the definition of human "races" and race relations. Paul Farber, one of the world’s leading historians of biology, will explore what the "Modern Synthesis" of evolutionary biology says (and has been thought to say) about "race".
Paul Farber is a Distinguished Professor of History at Oregon State University, Emeritus. He is the author of several books and numerous articles.
Lecture:
"Race and Evolution: Changing Ideas on Race-mixing in 20th Century America"
Fri., Mar. 20, 3:30 pm, SS 1253
Evolution, Genetics, and Eugenics
Garland Allen's research concerns the history of genetics and evolution from 1880-1950, during which time the "Modern Synthesis" of Mendelian genetics with Darwinian evolution was developed. This period also saw the development of eugenics, the idea that the human race could be "improved" by selective breeding. The history of eugenics provides insight into the interrelationships between science and its social context, and raises important legal, ethical, and social issues that have resurfaced today in the aftermath of the Human Genome Project.
Garland Allen is a Professor of Biology at Washington University in St. Louis. He is the author and editor of numerous articles and books.
Lecture:
Fri., Mar. 6, noon, Libin Lecture Theature (Health Sciences Centre, 3330 Hospital Dr. NW)
Note: This talk is part of the annual History of Medicine Days in the Faculty of Medicine.
Robert Dudley
Flying, Drinking, and Evolution
One of the most remarkable examples of the power of natural selection is the evolution of flying animals from flightless ancestors. By what steps did this amazing evolutionary transition proceed, and how do those steps reflect the physical constraints to which flying animals are subject? Robert Dudley is the world's leading expert on the evolution of flight. His research integrates laboratory and field studies of physiology and biomechanics in insects and birds within a comparative evolutionary framework.
Dr. Dudley also will deliver a seminar on the evolutionary origins of alcoholism. Ethanol is a naturally-occurring alcohol produced by yeast living in ripe fruits. All frugivorous species, including the relatives and ancestors of modern humans, have experienced natural selection shaping their behavioral response to ethanol. Humans and their relatives may have evolved to associate ethanol with nutritional reward, possibly explaining contemporary patterns of alcohol consumption and abuse.
Robert Dudley is a Professor of Integrative Biology at the University of California - Berkeley. He is the author of The Biomechanics of Insect Flight: Form, Function, Evolution and numerous articles.
Lectures:
"From gliding ants to Andean hummingbirds: the evolution of animal flight performance"
Tue. May 5, 4 pm, BI 211
"Evolutionary origins of human alcoholism in primate frugivory"
Tue. May 5, 11 am, ST 147
Following in Darwin’s Footsteps
Charles Darwin famously predicted that the Malagasay star orchid, a tubular flower over 20 cm long, must be pollinated by a moth with a correspondingly long tongue. Darwin’s prediction was ridiculed—until the moth was discovered. History repeated itself (with a twist) a few years ago, when Nathan Muchhala discovered that a similarly long-tubed Ecuadoran bellflower is pollinated by a previously-unknown bat with a tongue 50% longer than its own body. This work has revealed an extraordinary example of mutual adaptation and evolution.
Nathan Muchhala is a Postdoctoral Research Associate at the University of Toronto. His research has featured on “Quirks and Quarks.”
Lecture:
“Darwin’s Coevolutionary Race in a Bat-Flower Mutualism”
Wed., Nov. 5, 4 pm, BI 211
The Origin of (Mustard) Species
The question of the origin of species fascinated Charles Darwin, and continues to fascinate biologists today. Thanks to advances in molecular biology, we now know much more than Darwin could have about the evolutionary tree of life, and the processes that shaped it. Jocelyn Hall reveals the evolutionary story of two familiar group of plants, mustards and capers. Her work sheds important light on the apparently-sudden evolutionary appearance of flowering plants in the fossil record, which Darwin called an "abominable mystery."
Jocelyn Hall is an Assistant Professor of Biological Sciences at the University of Alberta. She is the author of numerous articles.
Lecture:
“Development and Evolution in Capers and Mustards”
Wed. Oct. 29, 4 pm, BI 211
Evolution of Religion
Religion and morality are commonly assumed to be linked: divinities make moral demands on devotees whose attempts to comply are rewarded by religious affiliation. Although scholars of ancient religions recognize that morality was not always an accepted currency in religious reciprocity, they have not reflected on the potential biological origin of this pairing. Developing an insight that goes back to Darwin, this talk applies Richard Alexander’s analysis (1987) of the “biology of morality.” The biblical prophets are famed for inventing morality; Alexander’s analysis of morality and inter-group competition is reflected in their literature and provides a socio-biological explanation of it.
Lyle Eslinger is a Professor in the Department of Religious Studies at the University of Calgary. In the course of writing a book on biblical mythology, he found that Darwinism provided a productive framework for thinking about religion and myth.
Lecture:
“The Biology of Prophetic Morality”
Wed., Oct. 8, 4 pm, BI 211
Literary Darwinism
Why do we write and read literature? Joseph Carroll argues that literature is written and read to satisfy the evolved and adapted needs of human nature. Our understanding of literature therefore ultimately depends on our understanding of human evolution, a perspective termed “Literary Darwinism.”
Joseph Carroll is Curator’s Professor of English at the University of Missouri – St. Louis. He is the author of numerous articles and several books, most recently Literary Darwinism: Evolution, Human Nature, and Literature. He is the recipient of multiple university awards for teaching and scholarship. Recently, he wrote the Introduction to a new edition of Darwin's On the Origin of Species.
Lectures:
“The Historical Position of Literary Darwinism” (lecture)
Thurs. Sept. 18, 3:30 pm, BI 587
“Graphing Jane Austen: Using Human Nature in Empirical Literary Study” (short talk and discussion)
Fri. Sept. 19, 11 am, SS 1339
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