How does a swarm of honeybees collectively decide on a new site for their hive? When a mother mouse protects her young, are her behaviors genetically determined? Why do ravens share food with each other? This course is an introduction to behavioral ecology, which asks why animals act the way they do, how their behaviors have been shaped by natural selection, and how these behaviors influence their surroundings. We will first discuss behaviors at the individual level, then move to reproductive behaviors. The final section of the course will focus on social evolution, the origins of cooperation, and human behavioral ecology.

Overview of the systematic classification of vertebrates (living and extinct); comparative anatomy and physiological functions of the major organ systems in vertebrates: skeletal, muscular, digestive, respiratory, circulatory, nervous, and urogenital. Each system will be studied on a comparative basis and we will explore their evolutionary changes across the major groups of vertebrates. We will also explore examples of key and functionally important adaptations to various life history strategies and ecological settings across the vertebrate tree of life.

Current and classical theoretical issues in ecology and evolutionary biology. Emphasis will be on theories and concepts and on mathematical approaches. Topics will include population and community ecology, immunology and epidemiology, population genetics and evolutionary theory.

In this course, students will collect and analyze genomic data through the scope of evolutionary theory. Working in groups, teams will collect and analyze RDAseq data to address ecological and evolutionary questions. Students will become immersed in the professional-level practices for scientific writing through a written report. We will discuss evolutionary topics through lectures, discussions, and assigned readings. The goal is that each group project would ask a different question rooted in molecular ecology and produce a written report formatted for a peer-reviewed journal,

Students learn to identify, develop, and pursue scientific questions rooted in tropical natural history (e.g., behavior, ecology, and/or evolution) by combining (1) their firsthand, original field observations, (2) application of knowledge from preceding modules of the Tropical Ecology Program (and other relevant courses), and (3) application of different research approaches (e.g., manipulative vs. mensurative studies) for class, group, and individual projects. This intensive field course entails two hours of lecture/discussion, six hours of laboratory, and two hours of data analysis daily. Limited to students in the Tropical Ecology Program.

Tropical Biology 338 is an intensive three-week field course based in lowland rainforest in Panama. The origins, maintenance, and major interactions of terrestrial biota in tropical rainforests will be examined. The course will involve travel to three different field sites, field journaling, and completion of independent field based research projects.

This field and lecture course provides an in-depth introduction to the biology of tropical coral reefs, with an emphasis on reef fish ecology and behavior. Each day begins with a lecture, followed by six to eight hours on the water, and ends with data analysis, reading and a discussion of recent papers. Students learn to identify fishes, corals and invertebrates, and learn a variety of field methods including underwater censusing, mapping, videotaping and the recording of inter-individual interactions. Each year group projects will vary depending on previous findings and the interests of the faculty.

Introduction to patterns of tropical marine biodiversity and their environmental causes. The geological separation of oceans by the isthmus of Panama created dramatically different environments that impacted marine biodiversity in this tropical region. We will explore the reasons for the resulting patterns of biogeography and biodiversity using tools from all the major science disciplines. Students will conduct group projects that contribute to the long-term data archives of environmental change in the region and the biological impacts arising from human land use, climate change, and marine exploitation.

Biologists use a variety of statistical approaches to draw robust conclusions from noisy real-world data. This course covers the fundamental ideas behind these approaches, as well as the tools needed to apply them in practice, using the programming language R. We will discuss methods for describing and visualizing data, quantifying uncertainty, and distinguishing meaningful effects from random noise. A major goal of the course is to prepare students for analyzing their own data.

How do genes and neural circuits encode behavior? How have genes and circuits evolved to generate the incredible diversity of behaviors we see across the animal kingdom? This course will explore these questions with emphasis on recent advances in the primary literature. Each class will focus on a specific behavior with a lecture introducing what is known about its genetic and neural basis followed by a discussion of a paper that builds on that knowledge to examine how the behavior evolves. A major goal of the class will be to learn how to critique contemporary research, generate new hypotheses, and design experiments to test those hypotheses.

This lecture and discussion course will combine topics from graphic novels and science fiction with biological and technological research to explore bizarre phenomena in the natural world and delve into basic scientific theory and principles. The range of topics covered will include evolution, genetics, physiology, biomechanics, brain-machine interfacing and artificial intelligence among others. Lectures serve to introduce each topic, merging science fiction with contemporary issues and theories in biology, while discussions will focus in depth exploration of scientific and sociocultural concepts through the reading and literary analysis.

Intensive three-week field course during the Spring Term in a suitable tropical locality. Readings, discussions, and individual projects. The content and location are varied to suit the needs of the participants.

This course features a series of invited speakers who present contemporary research on central problems in ecology, evolution, behavior, conservation, and related fields.; and are an important part of the intellectual life of EEB. They offer opportunities to exchange ideas with leading researchers; to stay abreast of recent developments, current trends, and cutting-edge methods; and to expand one's scientific horizons by learning about work in areas an ancillary to one's own research . Class with the speaker immediately following the seminar is required for 1st and 2nd year EEB grad students, and is open only to those students.

Humans increasingly dominate environmental systems throughout the world. To understand human impacts on the environment, quantitative modeling tools are needed. This course introduces quantitative modeling approaches for different environmental systems, including global models for carbon cycling; local and regional models for water, soil, and vegetation; models for transport of pollutants in water and air; and models for the spread of infectious disease. Students will develop simple models for all these systems and apply the models to a set of practical problems.

This required course for GHP students explores how we study the distribution and determinants of disease, introducing methods for measuring health status, disease occurrence, the association between risk factors and health outcomes, probing evidence for causality, and characterizing how ecology shapes human health. Emphasis on: study design and sampling, bias and confounding, the generalizability of research, identifying causality, infectious disease dynamics, global health.

Important concepts and elements of molecular biology, biochemistry, genetics, and cell biology, are examined in an experimental context. This course fulfills the basic biology requirement for students majoring in the biological sciences and satisfies the basic biology requirement for entrance into medical school and most other health professions schools.

Advances in molecular biology and computation have propelled the study of genomics forwards. A hallmark of genomics is the production and analysis of large datasets. This course will pair an overview of genomics with practical instruction in the analytical techniques required to use it in research and medicine. Topics include single-cell genomics, RNA-seq, epigenetics, genome engineering including CRISPR, and clinical genomics. We start with a genetics primer and an intro to programming using Python. Our goal is to provide a foundation for understanding the design and analysis of data-heavy experiments common in biomedical research.

Climate change has historically been considered a global environmental problem, requiring global cooperative action. A complementary perspective frames solutions to climate change as the result of myriad national & local decisions about investment, consumption, & livelihoods. The challenge is less on global cooperation and more about enabling national and local systems to form a response to climate change. We explore what this perspective implies for the national & local politics of climate change/policymaking. It emphasizes examples and perspectives from the developing world, which have been underrepresented in studies of climate change.