Bio4010 Autumn 2005 – Program


Time and place: Wednesday at 12.15 – 145.00,  in Room 3508the Biology building.

Responsible: Asbjørn Vøllestad (AV) - telephone 22 85 46 40 - e-mail avollest@bio.uio.no


August 24

1. AV: Introduction to the course. 

2. AV: Introduction to life history theory: what does these theories try to achieve? Based on chapter 1 in Stearns (1992). Read also Stearns (2000).


August 31

1. AV: Quantitative genetics

2. AV: Reaction norms

Seminar titles will be given to each and all of you - with dates for the presentations


September 7

1 + 2. AV:  Trade-offs


September 14

1 + 2. Leif C Stige: Fitness and fitness estimates


September 21

Time 1 + 2. AV: Age and size at maturity.

Title for Essay 1 will be given.


September 28

No seminar planned


October 5

1. AV: Progeny size and number.

2.   Student presentations: 

Synne F. Olsen: Einum & Fleming 2000. Highly fecund mothers sacrifice offspring survival to maximize fitness. Nature 405: 565-567.
Vebjørn Veiberg: Berkeley et al. 2004. Maternal age as a determinant of larval growth and survival in a marine fish, Sebastes melanops. Ecology 85: 1258-1264.

Submission of Essay 1: details to be decided at a later date.


October 12

1 + 2. Student presentations.
Guri Sogn Andersen: Krüger 2005. Age at first breeding and fitness in goshawk Accipiter gentilis. J Anim Ecol 74: 266-273.
Kirsten Kleveland: Forsyth et al. 2005. A substantial energy cost to male reproduction in a sexually dimorphic ungulate. Ecology 86: 2154-2163.
Gry Anett Lien:  Munch & Conover 2004. Nonlinear growth cost in Menidia menidia: theory and empirical evidence. Evolution 58: 661-664.
Line Gustavsen: Munch & Conover 2003. Rapid growth results in increased susceptibility to predation in Menidia menidia. Evolution 57: 2119-2127.

October 19

1 + 2. Rune Halvorsen Økland: Life histories of Hylocomium splendens, a boreal forest moss


October 26

1. Atle Mysterud: The phenology of rut in seasonal environments and its relation to reproductive effor in polygynous ungulates.

2. Student presentations

Silje Christine Heggelund Johnson: Sundström et al. 2005. Selection in increased intrinsic growth rate in coho salmon, Oncorhynchus kisutch. Evolution 59: 1560-1569.

Anne Kristing Ehrlinger: Vorburger 2005. Positive genetic correlations among major life-history traits related to ecological success in the aphid Myzus persicae. Evolution 59: 1006-1015.


November 2

1. Hans Petter Leinaas. Title to come.

2. Student presentations

Tea Turtumøygard: Kruuk et al. 2000. Heritability of fitness in a wild mammal population. PNAS 97: 698-703.

Tellef Jørgensen Holo: Lahdenperä et al. 2004. Fitness benefits of prolonged post-reproductive lifespan in women. Nature 428: 179-181.


November 9

1. AV: Ageing and senescence

2. Student presentations

Krisitin Vesterkjær: Hendry et al. 2004. Adaptive variation in senescence: reproductive lifespan in a wild salmon population. Proc. R. Soc. London B. 271: 259-266.

Luisa Avila Jimenez: Reznick et al. 2004. Effect of extrinsic mortality on the evolution of senescence in guppies. Nature 431: 1095-1099.


November 16

1. AV: Life history invariants 

2. Student presentation

Arne Laugsund: Mikolajewski et al. 2005. Phenotypic plasticity in gender specific life-history: effects of food availability and predation. Oikos 110: 91-100.

Title for Essay 1 will be given.

November 23

No seminar planned


December 1

Submission of Essay 2: details to be given later.