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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? Hierarchical structure of biological science, snobbery Varanus eremius (Varanid) Lecture # 2 18 January 2018
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Biology 301M – Ecology, Evolution, & Society Professor: Eric R
Biology 301M – Ecology, Evolution, & Society Professor: Eric R. Pianka Office: Patterson 125, Mon., Fri. 1-2 PM (or by appointment) , Lectures: Tuesday and Thursday, (Welch 2.122) Instructor and Course Websites: Download Syllabus from above site (Contract) Ctenophorus isolepis (Agamid)
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Teaching Assistant:. Craig Handley, Office: PAI 148. D
Teaching Assistant: Craig Handley, Office: PAI 148.D (or by appointment, use ) Discussion Sections (20% of letter grade) (24 readings and Problem Sets) Wednesday AM GDC Wednesday 9-10 AM SAC 5.102 Wednesday AM CLA 0.122 Wednesday AM GDC 2.410 Wednesday PM GDC 2.410 Wednesday PM JGB 2.202 Wednesday PM MEZ 1.208 Wednesday PM GDC 6.202 Ctenophorus nuchalis (Agamid)
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Notice the demanding course requirements placed on this class as part of UT's Core Curriculum, and accordingly, this course must meet standards and objectives of the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board for Natural Science and Technology: o Communication Skills: effective development, interpretation and
expression of ideas through written, oral and visual communication.
o Critical Thinking Skills: creative thinking, innovation,
inquiry, and analysis, evaluation and synthesis of information.
o Teamwork: ability to consider different points of view and to work effectively with others to support a shared purpose or goal.
o Empirical and Quantitative Skills: manipulation and analysis of numerical data or observable facts resulting in informed conclusions. Ctenotus (Skink)
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First Exam: 15 February. Second Exam: 29 March. Third Exam: 3 May
First Exam: 15 February Second Exam: 29 March Third Exam: 3 May Best 2 of above 3 = 40% Discussion Sections 20% Final Exam May 40% No “Extra points, No “Make Up” Exams! Final Grades are FINAL, non negotiable Anolis carolinensis (Dactyloid)
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First Exam: 15 February. Second Exam: 29 March. Third Exam: 3 May
First Exam: 15 February Second Exam: 29 March Third Exam: 3 May Best 2 of above 3 = 40% Discussion Sections 20% Final Exam May 40% No “Extra points, No “Make Up” Exams! Final Grades are FINAL, non negotiable Anolis carolinensis (Dactyloid)
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7 Families 12 Families Plus a dozen other families
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as an ecologist is concerned) Henry David Thoreau (1854)
Captive organisms are out of context, they don’t have a natural environment (they might as well be dead as far as an ecologist is concerned) Henry David Thoreau (1854) Walden “Book of Life” metaphor Holmes Rolston (1985) “Vanishing Book of Life“ Humans are just beginning to be able to read it, but its pages are tattered and torn, and entire chapters have been ripped out. Need to save as much as possible (conservation biology), but also must READ it (ecology) before it is gone. Other Earthlings were here before us and have a right to exist, too.
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Wisdom
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Wisdom Knowledge
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Wisdom Knowledge Understanding
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Wisdom Knowledge Understanding Manipulation
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Wisdom. Knowledge. Understanding. Manipulation
Wisdom Knowledge Understanding Manipulation Profess: “to claim to have knowledge of”
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Wisdom. Knowledge. Understanding. Manipulation
Wisdom Knowledge Understanding Manipulation Profess: “to claim to have knowledge of” Study: “application of the mental faculties to the acquisition of knowledge”
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Fossil fuel is our energy slave
Fossil fuel is our energy slave. It’s too cheap, one gallon will move a one-ton car miles (for a measly $2+ bucks – just Imagine having to push your car that far) Read Horsepower
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Watch these videos https://www. youtube. com/watch
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Proper motivation to do science is curiosity. How do things work
Proper motivation to do science is curiosity. How do things work? Assume an organized reality exists and that objective principles can be formulated to reflect this natural order (not faith based) Common misconception that “truth” and “proof” and even “facts” exist Nietzsche said “there are no facts, only interpretation.” Better to say facts include interpretation Nietzsche
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Proper motivation to do science is curiosity. How do things work
Proper motivation to do science is curiosity. How do things work? Assume an organized reality exists and that objective principles can be formulated to reflect this natural order (not faith based) Common misconception that “truth” and “proof” and even “facts” exist Nietzsche said “there are no facts, only interpretation.” Nietzsche ‘Just Another Monkey’
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Sunrise Sunset Geocentric world view
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X X Sunrise Sunset Geocentric world view
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Solar system world view
“Spinup” “Spindawn”” “Spindown” “Spindusk” Solar system world view
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Heliocentric world view
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Heliocentric world view
You are Here Heliocentric world view
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Most people consider a “fact” as “what really happened.”
However, Many “facts” are not so clean and simple -- most involve varying levels of interpretation. Consider, for example, the apparently simple fact that the Sun rises each morning. Daily we receive new evidence confirming this fact. We can be quite confident that the Sun will rise again tomorrow. References to sunrise and sunset are based on now defunct concept of a “flat Earth and moving Sun”. But our understanding of cosmic events is greatly enhanced when instead of thinking of the Sun as moving, it is viewed as fixed in space at the center of a solar system, and the Earth is interpreted as a rotating globe orbiting around a small star. Our vocabulary hasn't caught up -- clearly, we should refer to “sunrise” as “spinup” or “spindawn” and “sunset” as “spindown” or “spindusk.”
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Our one and only Spaceship (there is no planet B)
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Observation and Experiment are vital
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.
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A sprinkling of past geniuses:
Socrates Aristotle Archimedes Euclid DaVinci Newton Darwin Einsteinn
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Archimedes “The Method”
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Archimedes (287-212 BC) “The Method”
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Archimedes (287-212 BC) “The Method”
- ref389152
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8+ Billion of us
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8+ Billion of us Paul Ehrlich
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8+ Billion of us
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8+ Billion of us
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Caribou Pribolof Islands Alaska
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Caribou Pribolof Islands Alaska
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Domain of Ecology Simple versus multiple causality
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Observation and Experiment are vital
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.
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Genetic Drift (random sampling) Gene Flow (migration)
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
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Natural Selection = Differential Reproductive Success
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)
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Natural Selection does not always operate via Differential Mortality Cautious long-lived tomcat versus short-lived alley cat The currency of Natural Selection is progeny (offspring, babies) Not beauty, brains, or brawn If the ugly stupid and weak make more babies, their genes prevail
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Natural Selection does not always operate via Differential Mortality Cautious long-lived tomcat versus short-lived alley cat The currency of Natural Selection is progeny (offspring, babies) Not beauty, brains, or brawn If the ugly stupid and weak make more babies, their genes prevail
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Darwinian Fitness = ability to perpetuate genes in the gene pool Natural Selection operates like an efficiency expert, ferreting out the best way to perpetuate an organism’s genes Natural Selection is however short sighted (does not “see” past the next generation!) 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, laxitives, tranquilizers, etc.)
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