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This course covers the basic concepts of evolutionary biology. We will cover (i) the history of the field, (ii) major lines of evidence which cause evolution to be the accepted scientific explanation for the diversity and nature of life on earth, (iii) patterns of evolutionary data and the processes responsible for these, (iv) population genetics, and (v) human evolution.

The instructor for this course is Dr. Ashley Carter. His email address is ashley.carter@csulb.edu.

Via the links at the left you can find useful information related to this course:

• A detailed syllabus describing the course requirements, grading policies, etc. is on the Syllabus page. You should read this carefully and be sure you understand the course policies.

• The PowerPoint lectures used in each class will be posted on the Lectures page. The lectures are posted after class because educational studies show that taking notes improves memory retention compared to passive reading of printouts. I encourage students to take notes in class, not everything said is printed on the slides. The actual lectures may include additional information not included on these slides; these PowerPoint files are meant to serve as a check for your notes and source of detailed figures, not as a replacement for classroom attendance. Some lectures, particularly during the population genetics section of the course, involve notes on the whiteboard (which are not posted).

• There are several homework assignments throughout the semester. The assignments will be posted on the Assignments page. After the due date for the assignments has been completed, keys will be posted on this page as well. There is also general advice regarding the assignments (writing portion in particular) on this page.

• There are several exams throughout the semester. The keys to the semester's exams will be posted on the Exams page after the exam. There are also past exams posted in order to act as a style guide for the types of questions you may expect to see.

• As the course progresses I will describe many examples and studies from the literature, I will post links to related materials on the Misc. page. This page also has links to evolutionary biology societies, journals and other relevant items. I have an odd sense of humor and will post tangentially related, but hopefully interesting, material here as well. Hints for exam questions have been known to appear on this page as well ... hint.

• This course has a FAQ page. I will also post answers to commonly asked homework or procedural questions here.