The University of New South Wales
BIOS1101
,BIOS1101
Bold (blue) Ð Lecture number and core focus
Italic and underlined (black) Ð Heading
Bold (black) Ð Subheading
Lecture 1: Introduction
What will we study?
1. Evolutionary Biology: The study of the evolutionary processes that drive adaptation and promote the
diversity of life.
2. Functional Biology: The comparative physiology of organisms and study of the way different organisms
live in different environments.
Natural selection and the struggle for existence
All organisms struggle to exist (limited by resources, predators, parasites).
- Some varieties are better suited to their environment than others, and these differences are heritable.
- Better suited varieties leave behind more descendants than others.
§ Over time, populations become better suited to their environment.
The modern evolutionary synthesis has recently emerged, which simply refers to the union of natural selection
with Mendelian genetics.
Limits to adaptive evolution
ÒIf there were no constraints on what is possible, the best phenotype would live forever, would be impregnable to predators,
would lay eggs at an infinite rate, and so on.Ó (John Maynard Smith)
- Constraints prevent the evolution of
ÒDarwinian demonsÓ, which refer to a
hypothetical organism that would result if
there were NO biological constraints on
evolution.
§ In theory, this would be the
ÔperfectÕ organism.
- An example of a constraint would be
getting stuck at a local adaptive
optimum.
- Constraints may also result due to
phylogeny or evolutionary history.
Lecture 2: Origins and early life evolution
,Classification
Classification is commonly perceived as a five-kingdom system for classifying life, but is occasionally compared
with two alternative schemes.
The below, phylogenetic tree of terrestrial life is based on the 16s subunit of ribosomal RNA, revealing three distinct
ÔdomainsÕ: bacteria, archaea and eucarya.
- Some interesting facts:
§ There are over 85,000 bacteria living on each cm2 of our skin.
, § An average person has 1/10th kg of bacteria in and on the body.
§ There are more bacteria on one person's body than there are humans on Earth.
We can also create a tree revolving around the five kingdoms of life:
The wonder of fungi
Fungi are bizarre, mostly hidden creatures; some are
enormous and among the longest-living creatures on Earth.
- Individual fungi (such as this Armillaria gallica) can be
37 hectares in size and 2,500 years old.
- Surprisingly, we also eat their genitalia.
Controversies about viruses
There are many modern controversies concerning viruses,
including;
- Are they alive?
- Are they primitive pre-cellular life, or rogue nucleic acid that has escaped?
- Could they have come from outer space?
The discovery of ÔgiantÕ viruses (mimivirids and klosneuviruses), some the size of bacteria, have led to the idea that
viruses may be a fourth major domain of life, one that perhaps evolved from ancient cells.
BIOS1101
,BIOS1101
Bold (blue) Ð Lecture number and core focus
Italic and underlined (black) Ð Heading
Bold (black) Ð Subheading
Lecture 1: Introduction
What will we study?
1. Evolutionary Biology: The study of the evolutionary processes that drive adaptation and promote the
diversity of life.
2. Functional Biology: The comparative physiology of organisms and study of the way different organisms
live in different environments.
Natural selection and the struggle for existence
All organisms struggle to exist (limited by resources, predators, parasites).
- Some varieties are better suited to their environment than others, and these differences are heritable.
- Better suited varieties leave behind more descendants than others.
§ Over time, populations become better suited to their environment.
The modern evolutionary synthesis has recently emerged, which simply refers to the union of natural selection
with Mendelian genetics.
Limits to adaptive evolution
ÒIf there were no constraints on what is possible, the best phenotype would live forever, would be impregnable to predators,
would lay eggs at an infinite rate, and so on.Ó (John Maynard Smith)
- Constraints prevent the evolution of
ÒDarwinian demonsÓ, which refer to a
hypothetical organism that would result if
there were NO biological constraints on
evolution.
§ In theory, this would be the
ÔperfectÕ organism.
- An example of a constraint would be
getting stuck at a local adaptive
optimum.
- Constraints may also result due to
phylogeny or evolutionary history.
Lecture 2: Origins and early life evolution
,Classification
Classification is commonly perceived as a five-kingdom system for classifying life, but is occasionally compared
with two alternative schemes.
The below, phylogenetic tree of terrestrial life is based on the 16s subunit of ribosomal RNA, revealing three distinct
ÔdomainsÕ: bacteria, archaea and eucarya.
- Some interesting facts:
§ There are over 85,000 bacteria living on each cm2 of our skin.
, § An average person has 1/10th kg of bacteria in and on the body.
§ There are more bacteria on one person's body than there are humans on Earth.
We can also create a tree revolving around the five kingdoms of life:
The wonder of fungi
Fungi are bizarre, mostly hidden creatures; some are
enormous and among the longest-living creatures on Earth.
- Individual fungi (such as this Armillaria gallica) can be
37 hectares in size and 2,500 years old.
- Surprisingly, we also eat their genitalia.
Controversies about viruses
There are many modern controversies concerning viruses,
including;
- Are they alive?
- Are they primitive pre-cellular life, or rogue nucleic acid that has escaped?
- Could they have come from outer space?
The discovery of ÔgiantÕ viruses (mimivirids and klosneuviruses), some the size of bacteria, have led to the idea that
viruses may be a fourth major domain of life, one that perhaps evolved from ancient cells.
