URL study guide
https://studiegids.vu.nl/en/courses/2024-2025/AM_1229Course Objective
Students that complete this course will:• Have gained an up-to-date perspective on both mutualistic and antagonistic interactions with and between species (endosymbiont-host, plant-pollinator, and insect herbivore-plant, host-parasite, male-female, and parent-offspring associations).
• Have the ability to read, understand and critique the current literature on species interactions.
• Be able to formulate hypotheses about social interactions, suggest experiments to test hypotheses, design and defend a scientific poster with your ideas.
• Have gained hands on experience with expressing scientific formulations and ideas regarding open questions in this field in a short essay, and have collected feedback from experts in the fields on these ideas.
• Have a comprehensive view of the major traits that maintain interactions within and between species and how these traits evolve.
Course Content
A key goal in evolutionary biology is to understand social interactions in nature, and how interactions contribute to an individual’s fitness. When organisms form partnerships with other organisms, this can be a source of evolutionary innovation. Likewise, when there is conflict between organisms, this can drive the evolution of new strategies and adaptation. The aim of this course is to understand how cooperation and conflict in nature drives the ecology and evolution of species. We will focus on both mutualistic and antagonistic interactions between different species. How do mutualisms evolve, what prevents partnerships from collapsing? Why do some mutualisms evolve into parasitism and vice-versa? Can we predict the evolutionary trajectories of partnerships? How will species interactions be affected by climate change? We will also focus on cooperation and conflict within species. This includes kin selection, sexual conflict and parent-offspring conflict. In this work, we will integrate different biological levels (behaviour, evolution, ecology, physiology), with the aim to better understand the significance of conflicts at these different levels. Questions that will be addressed will include: How do you measure conflicts? Why do organism not always cooperate during reproduction? Why does this evolve to seemingly extreme and/or alternative mating strategies? How does counter-adaptive co-evolution help to avoid sexual conflict?Teaching Methods
A combination of lectures, demonstrations, independent field trips, discussion sessions, and out-of-the-box breakout activities will be used. Attendance at lectures is mandatory.Method of Assessment
Assessment is based on contribution in reading and discussions on the current literature (1/3), short essay (1/3), and a visual representation and presentation of a research topic (1/3).Literature
Required book: The Liars of Nature, and the Nature of lies by Lixing Sun (2023), Princeton University Press, ISBN-9780691198606 Required book: Scientific Papers Made Easy: How to Write with Clarity and Impact in the Life Sciences by West and Turnball (2023), Oxford University Press, ISBN- 9780192862792 Other literature will be supplied.
Target Audience
Students are encouraged to join if they are interested in evolution, behavior, climate change and species diversityEntry Requirements
BSc BiologyRecommended background knowledge
BSc BiologyLanguage of Tuition
- English
Study type
- Master