• The course newsgroup is now available. It is called uwash.class.genet453. Messages will remain all quarter, and will also be archived here.
• My office hours are Thursdays at 2-3 pm in my office, J253 HSB.
• There will be a review session for the midterm on Friday at 2pm - 3pm in J280 (our usual room).
• The final exam will be given at 2:30-4:20 pm on March 13, in a room to be announced.
• The midterm will be D-209 Health Sciences Building. This is on the second floor of Health Sciences, about halfway along the complex, across the main corridor from the D wing which is where the dental school is. It is at the usual class meeting time, on Monday, February 5.
• The final exam will be in J280 HSB (the usual lecture room) from 2:30-4:20 pm o Wednesday, March 13.
• A Review Session will happen on Friday, March 8, at 3:00-4:30 in J280 HSB.
• The grading in Genetics 453 is completed. The final exams, on which your point totals and grades are marked too, will be available from the Department Office (J205 HSB) as of Monday morning. See the secretary in the desk nearest the door (he's new so I don't know his name).

  The point and grade distribution will be posted in the next news message in this newsgroup and will be posted outside of J205.

  Thanks for putting up with a certain amount of nonsense.

  (Joe Miller -- please contact me if there has been a mixup concerning your grades.)

• Distribution of total scores (midterm+homework+final)

  (each "-" covers a 3-point range centered at the score on the scale. indication of grades is given too)

                                                 3.5
             2.0    2.3          2.8 3.0      3.3 !    3.8   4.0
              !      !            !   !        !  !     !     !
  
                                                        M
                                                        M
                                               M  M     M
                                               M  M M   M
                                  M            M  MMM   M M
               M      M           M   M        MMMMMM M M M   M
            ----------------------------------------------------------
            ^         ^         ^         ^         ^        ^       ^
            150      180       210       240       270      300     325
  
  
  Here are the actual point totals, sorted:
  
   159 180 216 217 227 254 254 254 256 259
   260 263 264 264 265 268 268 269 269 271
   276 281 281 283 283 283 283 288 288 303
  

GENET 453 Genetics of the Evolutionary Process
Credits: 3
Quarters: W
Instructor: Felsenstein
Gen. Educ.: NW
Course Desc.: Contributions of genetics to the understanding of evolution. Processes of mutation, selection, and random genetic events as they affect the genetic architecture of natural populations and the process of speciation. Emphasis on experimental data and observation, rather than mathematical theory. Prerequisite: 371 or 372. Offered: W.

Genetics 453                                                      J. Felsenstein
Evolutionary Genetics                                               Winter, 1996

                                Syllabus

Date        Topic                             Readings

1/3-1/5     History of genetics in evolution  Futuyma, chap. 1
                                              Ridley: Chap.1
                                              JMS: 8-12
                                              Greene, passim

1/8-1/13    Elements of population genetics   H&C: 17-19,31-37,147-159,184-185 
                                              Futuyma: 82-85,150-159, 162-167,170-173
                                              Ridley:  Chaps. 4-6
                                              JMS: 31-47,24-27,1139-147
                                              Li & Graur: Chap. 2

1/15        (Martin Luther King Day holiday)

1/17        more elements                     H&C: 96-118,199-201,306-310, 550-553,61-66
             of population genetics           Futuyma: 72-76,160,103-109, 120-131,142-143
                                              Ridley:  Chaps. 4-6
                                              JMS: as above
                                              Li & Graur: as above

1/19-1/24   Quantitative genetics             H&C: 430-450,(450-465), 504-510
                                              Futuyma: 87-91,195-202, (193), 207-210,214-215
                                              Ridley:  Chap. 9
                                              JMS: Chap. 6, esp. 93-117

1/26        Species selection,                H&C: 560-569,586-596
            punctuated equilibrium, etc.      Futuyma: 111-115, Chap.8., 258-266,397-409
                                              Ridley: Chaps. 12, 19, 20, and 21
                                              JMS: Chap. 9, also 280-292

1/29        Guest lecture (to be arranged) 

1/31-2/2    Species selection,                (same as 1/26)
            punctuated equilibrium, etc. 

2/5         Midterm exam                      Some or all of the above

2/7-2/9     Molecular variation               H&C: 349-382,421-425,407-420
                                              Lewontin, Chaps. 3 and 5
                                              Futuyma: 444-459,472-481, 143-146,307-315,(286-306)
                                              JMS: 49-57,65-77,139-147
                                              Ridley: pp. 141-163

2/12-2/16   Molecular evolution               Li & Graur, chaps. 3-5
                                              H&C: 349-382,421-425,407-420
                                              Ridley: pp. 164-182, Chaps. 10, 17
                                              Futuyma: 444-459,472-481, 1143-146,307-315,(286-306)
                                              JMS: 147-156,203-224

2/19        (Presidents' Day Holiday;
             Darwin's birthday, nearly)

2/21        more molecular evolution 

2/23-2/28   Chromosome evolution              H&C: 99-101,597-603
                                              Futuyma: 60-65,301,303, 236-238
                                              White: Chaps. 7,8,9,12,(11)
                                              Stebbins, Chaps. 1,4,5
                                              JMS: 67-69,224-229
                                              Ridley: pp. 69-71, 74-75, 201

3/1-3/8     Evolution of genetic systems      H&C: 555-560
                                              Futuyma: 261,265,279-282
                                              JMS: Chaps. 13 and 14
                                              Ridley: 199-203, 294-298


Abbreviations for authors of books:

H&C:        Hartl and Clark
JMS:         John Maynard Smith

Class newsgroup:  uwash.class.genet453
Class World Wide Web site
    http://weber.u.washington.edu/~genetics/courses/genet453/genet453.html

           Books on Reserve in Undergraduate Library Reserve

                       All are 1-day reserve

Call Number              Author/Title/Edition

 
575                Greene, John C.	
G833d                The death of Adam
  
QH325              Li, Wen-Hsiung and Dan Graur
.L65                 Fundamentals of
1991                 molecular evolution
  
QH 365             Darwin, Charles
O2 1967              The origin of species
  
QH366.2            Futuyma, Douglas
.F87                 Evolutionary Biology (2nd ed.)
1986  
  
???????            Ridley, Mark
1993                 Evolution
  
QH366.2            Maynard Smith, John, and Eors Szathmary
.M3918               The major transitions in evolution
1995       
  
QH366.2            Maynard Smith, John
.M392                The theory of evolution
1993      
  
QH 371             Maynard Smith, John 
.M327                Evolutionary Genetics
1989  

QH 431             Dobzhansky, Theodosius
D577                 Genetics of the evolutionary process
  
QH455              Hartl, Daniel L.
.H36                 A primer of population
1988                 genetics, 2nd ed.
  
QH455              Hartl, Daniel L. and Andrew Clark
.H37                 Principles of population
1989                 genetics, 2nd ed.
   
QH 455             Lewontin, R.C.
L48                  The genetic basis of evolutionary change
  
QH 581.2           White, M. J. D.
W45                  Animal cytology and evolution
1977       
  
QK 981             Stebbins, George Ledyard 
S74            	     Chromosomal evolution in higher plants 

(I know it makes everyone insecure, but at the graduate level it is standard not to have a textbook. If you go to grad school you'll have to get used to it.) Mostly it's because I can't come up with one that covers adequately the particular mix of topics I give. Make a suggestion on the course newsgroup and we'll discuss it. I have considered or even used Futuyma, Maynard Smith's "Evolutionary Genetics", and others but they don't work. I am trying to compensate by handing out copies of my overheads each time.

Biology 454

The main evolution course at the University, taught yearly by Joel Kingsolver (Zoology Department) and Doug Schemske (Botany Department). Both are well-known researchers in evolutionary biology. Text in past has been Futuyma's "Evolutionary Biology" (not sure what it is this year). Winter quarter.

Zoology 414

Molecular evolution course by Scott Edwards, who is an active researcher in that area. New course. Remains to be seen what level the course will be at, graduate or undergraduate. Texts are Li and Graur "Fundamentals of Molecular Evolution" and Avise "Molecular Markers". Winter quarter.

Genetics 562

Now given every other year, this is the graduate theoretical evolutionary genetics course that I give. Lots of equations, though mostly at a low mathematical level. No pictures of cute furry animals. Next time it's given will be Spring, 1997. Text: my own notes, sold inexpensively by ASUW Publications in the HUB.

Genetics 554

This topics number will be used in Spring 1996 by me to give a graduate-level course on Phylogenetic Inference. Methods for inferring phylogenies, and methods for doing things with them. Some background in statistics necessary. After this year it will be given every other Spring under another number.

Others

There are more courses and I'll gradually try to put descriptions of them here.

There are many:

Newsgroups

Some brief descriptions of some of the major ones covering evolution:

sci.bio.systematics

Discussion of systematics, including phylogeny and classification. Most postings are serious discussions by researchers. Some percentage of them are semantic issues or legalistic discussions of taxon names.

bionet.molbio.evolution

Discussion among researchers about molecular evolution. Low volume, high quality.

sci.bio.paleontology

Tends to be filled with postings by fossil enthusiasts and tends to be dinosaur-centered. Some creation/evolution debating too.

bionet.population-biology

Supposed to be the forum for discussion by population biologists. But they don't post much there. Occasionally someone sees the "population" in the group title and starts a discussion of human overpopulation issues, which are best discussed elsewhere. This helps ensure that real population biologists will continue to avoid the group.

sci.bio.evolution

Moderated by Josh Hayes of our own Center for Quantitative Sciences, who should get some sort of award for putting up with a lot of nonsense. I think it was intended as a forum for discussion among researchers, but has tended to be filled with postings by others about whether humans are still evolving (answer: yes, but it's extremely slow compared to cultural change) and whether genes for homosexuality could persist. Not intended for evolution/creation debates: Josh screens these out.

talk.origins

The arena for endless debate between creationists and others, with frequent digressions into theology. Extremely high noise to signal ratio. When a decisive point is made, the opponent changes the subject or just refuses to respond.

World Wide Web Pages

The program is freely distributable. It is available from my workstation by anonymous ftp. There you will find:

• a 386 DOS executable version
• a pre-386 DOS version for those who have PC/XT or PC/AT-compatible machines
• a Macintosh version by Mark Wells with somewhat different features
• Source code in C that can be compiled on a Unix workstation with X windows
• an executable for DEC Alpha (OSF1)
• an executable for Sun SPARCstations