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SUBDISCIPLINES OF EVOLUTIONARY BIOLOGY |
- Behavioral
Evolution
- Evolution of mating systems, courtship
behavior, foraging behavior, predator escape mechanisms,
and cooperation
- Evolutionary Developmental
Biology
- Evolutionary change in the processes
that translate genetic information (genotype) to its
anatomical characteristics (phenotype)
- Evolutionary Ecology
- How the life histories, diets, and
other ecological features of species evolve, and how
these processes affect the composition and properties
of communities and ecosystems; also, how species evolve
in response to one another (i.e. evolution of predator-prey
relationships)
- Evolutionary Genetics
- Uses molecular and classical genetic
methods to understand the origin of variation by mutation
and recombination (crossing over, translocation, inversion,
etc.). Also describes patterns of variation within
populations and species
- Evolutionary Paleontology
- Large-scale evolutionary patterns
of the fossil record. Examines origins and fates of
lineages and major groups, evolutionary trends and
other anatomical changes throughout geographic areas
and geologic time.
- Evolutionary Physiology/Morphology
- How physiological, biochemical,
and anatomical features of an organism provide adaptation
to its environment and lifeways. Also examines the
history of these adaptations.
- Human Evolution
- Many evolutionary biologists use
conceptual issues of the subdisciplines to study a
particular group of organisms. Of these groups, one
draws special attention -- the human lineage.
- Molecular Evolution
- Investigates the history and causes
of evolutionary changes in nucleotide sequences, the
structure and number of genes, their physical arrangement
on chromosomes, and other molecular phenomenon.
- Systematics
- Distinguishes and names species,
infers phylogenetic relationships among species and
classifies species based on their evolutionary relationships.
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