Evolution, Ecology and Behavior with Stephen C. Stearns - 1. The Nature of Evolution: Selection, Inheritance, and History

Principles of Evolution, Ecology and Behavior (EEB 122) The lecture presents an overview of evolutionary biology and its two major components, microevolution and macroevolution. The idea of evolution goes back before Darwin, although Darwin thought of natural selection. Evolution is driven by natural selection, the correlation between organism traits and reproductive success, as well as random drift. The history of life goes back approximately 3.7 billion years to a common ancestor, and is marked with key events that affect all life. 00:00 - Chapter 1. Introduction 03:22 - Chapter 2. History of Evolutionary Studies 15:59 - Chapter 3. Conditions for Natural Selection 21:25 - Chapter 4. The Power of Selection and Adaptation 27:09 - Chapter 5. Drift 31:10 - Chapter 6. History of Life 39:33 - Chapter 7. Conclusion Complete course materials are available at the Open Yale Courses website: http://open.yale.edu/courses This course was recorded in Spring 2009.