About Introduction to Evolutionary Biology and Ecology

In BIO101 , you were introduced to biology on a microscopic scale when you learned about the functions of molecules, genes, and cells. In this course, you will learn about biological changes that happen on a very large scale, across entire populations of organisms and over the course of millions of years, in the form of evolution and ecology. Evolution, the process by which different species of organisms have developed and diversified from their evolutionary forbears, has been a central theme in the field of biology ever since Darwin first published his theories about it. Mounting evidence from many different branches of science all point to the fact that species have experienced a gradual but definite physical change. In this course, we will learn about evolution and theories that stem from evolution. We will also learn about ecology, the study of the interactions between different types of organisms and their surroundings. Changes in surroundings will force organisms to adapt and change-often in terms of the way in which they interact with one another. An ecosystem, or a biological community that contains both an environment and all of its inhabitants, can be quite large and can contain hundreds or even thousands of species. Evolution and ecology have together shaped our understanding of how life has changed over time on Earth, across billions of years of its history. It explains why giraffes have long necks and why hummingbirds have long beaks. It also explains why all land vertebrates share common skeletal features!