Short Course Description
The course examines the adaptation of organisms to their environment, from the individual to the population level. We will learn about environmentally-driven selective pressures and the evolutionary response to these pressures. How natural selection influences not only an individual?s traits, but also the traits of a population and species complex. We will try to understand how evolutionary mechanisms affect a variety of ecological processes, with an emphasis on host-parasite interactions. Among others, we will study the following topics: evolution of virulence, host defense strategies and the cost of resistance, the influence of parasitism on the development of hybrid species, parasitism and sexual selection (male competition, mate selection, Hamilton-Zuk hypothesis), parasitism and behavior (how a parasite manipulates its host in order to transmit), regulation of host populations and their genetic diversity by parasites, trade-off hypothesis, biological control using parasites, host specificity, evolution of life history strategies, geographic variation and phenotypic plasticity, evolution of sexual reproduction and recombination, antagonistic coevolution, sex ratio in a population, sexual dimorphism. At the end of the course, the students will be equipped with advanced skills to analyze and assess central hypothesis in the field and perform scientific research in this exciting area.
Full syllabus is to be published
