Evolutionary Biology

Didactic unit: Introduction and general principles of evolutionism
Darwinian' evolutionism, definition and importance of the theory proposed by Darwin; The mechanisms of evolution and the forces behind the evolutionary changes of species: mutation, natural and sexual selection, genetic drift, migration, with particular attention to the processes of micro-evolution. The importance of sexual selection in the evolution of species, the weight of history, physical, morphogenetic and genetic constraints; The importance of random genetic drift; The evolution of phenotypic traits; The origin of species and ways of speciation; Molecular principles of evolution and hints of phylogeny and reconstruction of phylogenetic trees.

Didactic unit: Models and problems in evolutionary biology
The teaching unit will deal with some fundamental themes of evolutionary biology: altruism; symbiosis and evolution of interspecific relationships; punctuated equilibria and macroevolution; the role of sexual reproduction; evolution of virulence. Some topics will be treated in a historical key, with a focus on the development of evolutionary thought in the transition between the nineteenth and twentieth centuries and in the twentieth century: rediscovery of Mendel's laws, August Weismann and the germ plasm, Hugo de Vries and mutations; the Synthetic Theory; developments after the Synthesis.