Learning objectives
The course is aimed at providing a basic theoretical backgroundrequired for studying the mechanisms underlying animal organismsresponses to environmental changes and main evolutionary ecologicalissues. <br />
Course unit content
<br />Darwin's influence on modern thought<br />Species concepts.<br />Short-termsandlong term responses to the environment: regulativeresponses,acclimationresponses, developmental responses andevolutionaryresponses.<br />Homeostatic constrains<br />Phenotypic plasticity and reaction norms.<br />Character displacement<br />Allometric relationships<br />Phylogenetic and allometric constrains<br />Dormancy<br />Circadian oscillation and gene clock<br />Molecular bases of phenotypic plasticity. <br /><br />Case studies<br />Phylogeography and history of giant Galapagos tortoises.<br />Physiological and metabolic responses to hypoxia in invertebrates<br />The seed bank of a freshwater crustaceans.<br />Environmental and genetic control of sexual reproduction in Daphnia.<br />Genetics and ecology of a colonising population of Daphnia obtusa in Lake Orta<br />The clonal ecology of Heterocypris incongruens<br />Effect of genotype and photoperiod on diapause strategies in Eucypris virens<br />Hypoxia and starvation tolerance in individuals from a riverine and a lacustrine population of Darwinula stevensoni<br />Natural variation in a Drosophila gene and temperature compensation<br /><br />Anoutlineof the ecology of sex. Short-term and long term costsandbenefits. TheRed Queen Hypothesis. Sex determination mechanisms.. <br /><br />Case studies<br />The freshwater snail Potamopyrgus antipodarum<br />Experimental evidence for the evolutionary significance of temperature-dependent sex determination<br />The Wolbachia effect<br />
Bibliography
Begon M., Harper J.L., Townsend C.R. 1989. Ecologia. Individui, Popolazioni, Comunità. Zanichelli.<br />Cochburn A. 1991. An introduction to evolutionary ecology. Blackwell Scientific Publications.<br />De Witt T.J. & Scheiner S.M. 2004 Phenotypic plasticity. Oxford University Press.<br />Hartl D.L, Clark A.G. 1993. Genetica di popolazione. Zanichelli.<br />Randall D., Burggren W., French K. 1999 Fisiologia animale. Zanichelli.<br />Ridley M. 1996 Evolution. Blackwell Science<br />Sibly R.M., Calow P. 1986. Physiological ecology of animals. An evolutionary approach. Blackwell Scientific Publications.<br />Stearns S.C. 1992. The evolution of life histories. Oxford University Press.<br /><br />
