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This is a course developed for students who are going to do evolution for the first time. Therefore, they should have working knowledge of the chromosome theory and the nature of meiosis with particular reference to recombination and its advantages in the process of reproduction. They should also be conversant with the principles and concepts of Mendelian and post Mendelian genetics to be able to describe such terms as genotype, phenotype and variation. This will require them to know that a gene is the unit of heredity and that it is located on the Deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) molecule. They should understand the structure and role of DNA, as the universal molecule that specifies the amino acid sequence of proteins in cells of organisms. This knowledge should be of an elementary type as described in Advanced Level Biology textbooks.
Knowledge of basic ecology will help to understand that the species is the fundamental unit of a population and that populations constitute a community. These organisms have preferred specific areas called habitats where a set of environmental conditions both in terms of climate and food favour their existence/survival. Outside these conditions species fail to cope with life and may get threatened, endangered or eliminated. Each species in a habitat plays a specific role which is named niche.
It will also be useful for you to have a working knowledge of biostatistics or elementary algebra for working out probabilities and doing binomial expansions as this knowledge is of fundamental importance when considering change in a population with time. A section of a model of a DNA molecule https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Evolution 25th March 2016