EE BIOL C174
Comparative Biology and Macroevolution
Description: Lecture, three hours; laboratory, three hours. Requisite: Life Sciences 1. Recommended: one introductory statistics course. Modern comparative biology provides framework for studying broad questions in evolution -- How do body shapes evolve? What are dynamics of evolutionary arms race? Why are there so many species in tropics? Why are there so many beetles and so few crocodiles? Did dinosaurs put brakes on diversification of mammals? Examination of why tree of life is essential to understanding patterns of biological diversity and how phylogenetic comparative methods are used to test macroevolutionary hypotheses. Concurrently scheduled with course C230. Letter grading.
Units: 4.0
Units: 4.0
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Most Helpful Review
Winter 2018 - This class involved coding with R, which is challenging for some. The TA also had a hands off approach where by the end of the quarter he would barely answer questions so you would have to figure out the code on your own. It was frustrating at times but it worked pretty well. You basically get full credit for doing the labs regardless how well they are, as long as you put in effort. The class itself was intermediate to me. I thought I wasn't doing too well the whole time but I ended up getting an A which surprised me. This was probably because the class itself is confusing and the coding is challenging, but the tests are pretty straightforward and they dont grade hard. Also Prof Alfaro tries to make his class fun and he's pretty chill. It felt like a graduate class to me (there were grad students taking it too, so I would recommend the class if you want to learn coding and macroevolution, but be ready to put in work and submit a 2 page lab report once a week.
Winter 2018 - This class involved coding with R, which is challenging for some. The TA also had a hands off approach where by the end of the quarter he would barely answer questions so you would have to figure out the code on your own. It was frustrating at times but it worked pretty well. You basically get full credit for doing the labs regardless how well they are, as long as you put in effort. The class itself was intermediate to me. I thought I wasn't doing too well the whole time but I ended up getting an A which surprised me. This was probably because the class itself is confusing and the coding is challenging, but the tests are pretty straightforward and they dont grade hard. Also Prof Alfaro tries to make his class fun and he's pretty chill. It felt like a graduate class to me (there were grad students taking it too, so I would recommend the class if you want to learn coding and macroevolution, but be ready to put in work and submit a 2 page lab report once a week.
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