BSc Biology

Life has a deep history. Its origins lie more than 3000-million years ago, and the time since has been defined by constant change: lineages have transformed, split, and become extinct over geological time, and life itself has terraformed our planet. All of this is the result of evolution. This course will explore the evolution of life in deep time, from its origins and the earliest known fossils, through major evolutionary transitions, to the ecosystems alive today. It will explore: the patterns and processes of evolution in deep time; the fossil record, what it can tell us, and how to interpret it within an evolutionary context; how life interacts with the Earth, and how we can use past life to address current global environmental challenges. Key topics include: evolution and the tree of life, palaeoecology and palaeoenvironments, extinction, conservation palaeobiology, and the preservation of fossils.

This course has four primary aims:

• To provide an overview of major milestones and transitions in the history of life, highlighting the evolutionary and geological context of these through deep time.
• To explore the patterns and processes of evolution over a wide range of timescales, the structure of the tree of life, and how we can better understand both of these using the fossil record in addition to living groups.
• To cover topics in palaeoecology including how fossils can tell us about past environments - and thus elucidate palaeoclimates across Earth History.
• To introduce biodiversity patterns through life history, including extinctions and conservation palaeobiology.

The course comprises ten two hour lectures/workshop sessions, which are a balance between the delivery of new content and exercises and discussions regarding the topics in any given week. An overview of the content is as follows:

Milestones in Evolution

Macroevolution

The Evolution of Morphology

Phylogenies

Palaeobiogeography

Palaeoecology

Conservation Palaeobiology

Extinction

Evolution of Terrestrial Life

Taphonomy and preservation

Learning on this course builds between weeks. The course comprises ten sessions either delivered as two hour lectures or using a blender learning approach. In person sessions contain practical elements. The lectures are provided as powerpoints/equivalent, which are generally fairly text-light, but have important definitions and spellings on them, and are available as videos. As such there is a focus in the in person sessions on providing the learning content of the course verbally, with regular breaks for discussion and opportunities to ask questions for clarification of topics as required. As such, it is essential that students attend these sessions: the videos and website/blackboard material allow students to build their notes separately if required. There are regular opportunities in all elements for formative assessment where the students are provided with a question and asked to - in a group or individually - discuss the answer to this, followed by a class discussion where appropriate. Feedback is immediate. This is augmented by the exercises which synthesise the course material and provide opportunities to consolidate this knowledge. As mentioned above, the blackboard for the course includes a reading list, and each lecture has key literature included on the site to provide directed further reading for the students. This can be supported by the slides, which are fully referenced with key sources throughout the course. As such this course balances lectures and small group exercises in contact time, with clear expectations and signposting for the associated independent study.  

Every element of summative assessment has associated feedback. At the start of the course the students will be provided feedforward (once available) on the Blackboard site for the course, and also as part of the lecture when the assessments are set. Feedback for the written assessment is provided through turnitin within two weeks; format follows best pedagogical practice, and focusses on key areas for improvement with the option of a full feedback session to discuss in more depth. Assessment feedback follows SEES policy

An official reading list created using library infrastructure will be created and linked to from blackboard in advance of the first delivery of the course. Key texts will be:

Futuyma, D. and Kirkpatrick, M., 2017. Evolution. Sinauer. Sunderland, MA. Benton, M.J. and Harper, D.A., 2013. Introduction to paleobiology and the fossil record. John Wiley & Sons.

Benton, M.J. and Harper, D.A., 2013. Introduction to paleobiology and the fossil record. John Wiley & Sons.

Additional directed reading is provided on blackboard within the folder for each lecture.