Jason, I strongly advise against the third question. Evolution is not directional, and the question is worded to suggest that it is. If the point of the question is to dispel the idea of evolution being directional, then it would be fine.
There are many common misconceptions of organisms "progressing" through evolution. The most common is the typical classroom image of human evolution moving from ape-like toward human-like over time. Transition species in the fossil record do not suggest a progressive change from one type of body form into another. The transition to terrestrial life is the same way; transition species such as Tiktaalik, Eusthenopteron, and Ichthyostega did not "march along" until they were well-adapted for life on land. Evolution does not craft "improved" species or "advanced" species. It simply results in organisms being well-adapted for their environment at a given time. In regards to the fourth question, ecological time refers to immediate interactions between organisms and their environment. It does lead into evolutionary time and the change in allelic frequencies through generations. So, ecological interactions can and do have meaningful impact on evolutionary trajectories of species. I think the first two questions will lead into some good discussion. Best of luck on your discussion panel, Joey Smokey WSU Vancouver On Tue, Dec 4, 2012 at 8:37 AM, jason.strickland < [email protected]> wrote: > Dear group, > > I have compiled some of the ideas that were given to me about my > discussion panel. The response was much lower than I expected so if you > have any ideas, feel free to share those as well. Thank you to all those > that contributed. > > > 1. Will most organisms be capable of adapting quickly enough to > respond to climate change/sea level rise to be evolutionarily relevant? > > 2. What impact will Genetically Modified Organisms have on the > ecology and evolution of the modified species and other species? > > 3. Do organisms progress/improve/advance through evolution? > > 4. Do ecological processes/interactions last long enough to have any > meaningful impact on the evolutionary trajectory of a species? > > Please share your thoughts on these topics or suggest others. > > Cheers, > Jason Strickland > [email protected] > > From: jason.strickland > Sent: Tuesday, October 30, 2012 3:59 PM > To: [email protected] > Subject: Discussion Panel Topic Suggestions > > Dear group, > > I am currently working on forming a discussion panel that will include two > ecologists and two evolutionary biologists to discuss topics that involve > merging ecology and evolution. The discussion will be in front of 150-200 > students ranging from undergraduates to post-docs (all in biology). The > panel will happen on a Saturday morning so it needs to be an exciting > discussion to hold the audience's interest and cause them to ask questions. > > I am looking for topics/questions that the two fields do not completely > agree on. The goal is to have the panel disagree on topics to allow the > students to learn and be entertained. If anyone can suggest topics or > questions that ecologists and evolutionary biologists have different > viewpoints on, they would be greatly appreciated. I have a few topics > already, but wanted to ask a larger audience to suggest topics to determine > if there are certain topics/questions that come up frequently. Feel free to > email me directly ([email protected]<mailto: > [email protected]>) or respond to this post with your > suggestions. > > Thank you in advance for your help, > > Jason Strickland > [email protected]<mailto:[email protected]> >
