Ground Rules, exams, etc. (no

1
Course Website 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? Hierarchi
cal structure of biological science, snobbery
(Varanid)
Varanus eremius
2
First Exam 24 Sept. Second Exam 29
Oct. Third Exam 3 Dec. Best 2 of above 3
40 Discussion Sections 20 Final Exam 9
December 2-5 PM 40 No Extra points, No
Make Up Exams! Final Grades are FINAL, non
negotiable
Anolis carolinensis (Iguanid)
3
Five Lizard Clades
Agamidae 440 species Gekkota 7 Families 1536
species Iguania 12 Families 1086
species Scincidae 1600 species Varanidae 75
species
Sceloporus
Moloch
Ctenophorus
Phelsuma
Anolis
Ctenotus
Ctenotus
Varanus
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Hierarchical Organization of the
Biological Sciences
Molecular Biology
5
Hierarchical Organization of the
Biological Sciences
Molecular Biology
lt Integrative Biologygt
6

Time and Space Scaling in Ecology
Daniel T. Haydon
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Time and Space Scaling in Ecology Daily
movements (home range, territory) Dispersal
events (immigration, emigration) Colonization
of new areas and habitats Geographic range
expansion or contraction Geographical
patterns of diversity
Daniel R. Brooks
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Models may be verbal, graphical, or
mathematical Model mere
caricatures of nature (all models are
imperfect) Trade offs in construction
of models precision generality realism
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Manipulation
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Understanding Manipulation
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Knowledge Understanding Manipulation
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Wisdom Knowledge Understanding Manipulation
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Wisdom Knowledge Understanding Manipula
tion Profess to claim to have knowledge of
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Wisdom Knowledge Understanding Manipula
tion Profess to claim to have knowledge
of Study application of the mental faculties
to the acquisition of knowledge
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Watch these videoshttps//www.youtube.com/watch
?featureplayer_embeddedvYQ9_2K2_z3Ahttps//ww
w.youtube.com/watch?vrM6txLtoaochttp//www.upwo
rthy.com/a-smartypants-scientist-makes-an-easy-ana
logy-about-our-planet-and-now-im-scared
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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
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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
20
X
X
Sunrise
Sunset
Geocentric world view
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Spinup
Spindown
Solar system world view
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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
spindawn and sunset as spindusk.
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Our one and only Spaceship (there is no planet B)
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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
Archimedes
Aristotle
Euclid
Socrates
Newton
Darwin
DaVinci
Einsteinn
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Archimedes (287-212 BC) The Method
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Archimedes (287-212 BC) The Method
http//www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/32808/Ar
chimedes - ref389152
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Paul Ehrlich
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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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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
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 MortalityCautious long-lived
tomcat versus short-lived alley catThe
currency of Natural Selection is progeny
(offspring, babies)Not beauty, brains, or
brawnIf the ugly stupid and weak make more
babies, their genes prevail
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Natural Selection does not always operate via
Differential MortalityCautious long-lived
tomcat versus short-lived alley catThe
currency of Natural Selection is progeny
(offspring, babies)Not beauty, brains, or
brawnIf the ugly stupid and weak make more
babies, their genes prevail