BIOL 2003
Assess credibility of source material [BIOL 2003] Describe the basic tenets of ‘Darwinian evolution’: i) Tree of Life concept; ii) Natural selection, leading to adaptive evolution (including different modes of selection, and sexual selection) [BIOL 1010] Describe the Geologic history and time-scales associated with the evolution of metazoans [BIOL 2003] Identify major invertebrate and vertebrate taxa [BIOL 2003] Interpret the information in simple phylogenetic trees and taxonomies, including distinguishing between monophyly, paraphyly and polyphyly. Construct phylogenetic trees using shared characters and parsimony, and use trees to generate testable predictions. [BIOL 1010] Relate animal phyla to key transitions of cladogram [BIOL 2003] Use specialized terminology associated with animal diversity [BIOL 2003] Interpret phylogenetic trees Compare classification of metazoans into major clades: protostomes/deuterostomes, ecdysozoans, lophotrochozoans [BIOL 2003] Compare locomotive, skeletal, feeding/digestive, excretory, respiratory, sensory, and reproductive structures between the major taxa of metazoans Compare the variety of invertebrate and vertebrate animal body‐forms, ecologies, life histories, and physiologies [BIOL 2003] Relate changes in animal systems to transition onto land [BIOL 2003]
Use principles of allometry to predict differences in structure and function between large and small animalsDescribe in general terms which vertebrates lived at what timeDistinguish between mass extinctions and background extinctions and their implications for adaptationEvaluate media accounts of vertebrate history and evolutionRelate vertebrate history to geological historyRelate vertebrate history to history of other organismsArgue for or against interpretations of major events in vertebrate history(dinosaur endothermy, origin of flight, relationships between fin types etc.)Assess new paleontological evidence (fossils) and their implications for interpretations of vertebrate historySynthesize a phylogeny showing relationships of arbitrarily chosen lineages of vertebratesDescribe important fossils close to major divergences in lineagesDiagram major anatomical structures(skull, limbs/fins, axial skeleton etc)Identify and compare homologous anatomical features between vertebratesRelate morphology to function and selection pressuresTrace the ancestry and evolutionary changes in morphology from modern vertebrates back to early Paleozoic animalsUse cladistic analysis of morphology to evaluate phylogenetic hypotheses
