Natural Selection

An understanding of the process of natural selection helps us to understand the amazing diversity of life on the earth.

Expected Learning Outcomes

By the end of the course a fully engaged students should be able to

1) define the process of natural selection

2) distinguish between the patterns of stabilizing, disruptive, and directional selection and provide examples of each pattern

3) describe how the process of natural selection has produced a trait that is an adaptation to a particular environmental condition.

4) explain why organisms are not expected to be perfectly adapted to their environments

5) discuss the conditions that would cause natural selection to stop

6) explain why natural selection is expected to produce selfish traits

Readings

Natural selection http://www.eoearth.org/article/Natural_selection

Here is a link to a website from UC Berkeley that might be useful to take a look at-

http://evolution.berkeley.edu/evolibrary/article/evo_25