ECOL401

During ontogeny, organisms constantly have to adjust their physiology in response to the environment they encounter. This course will provide an integrative understanding of life history evolution from the perspective of the constraints imposed by their underlying physiology. We will emphasize how physiological tradeoffs at the level of the whole organism ultimately define an organism's life history and fitness. The course will provide students with a conceptual approach to the integration of whole-organism physiology underlying life history traits. Relevant physiological, evolutionary and ecological background necessary to understand the concepts discussed will be given in lecture. Course will focus primarily on insects and will also use examples from other animals.

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