• Explain and evaluate the core mechanisms of evolution
• Reconstruct major transitions in the history of life on Earth
• Apply palaeobiological and palaeoecological principles to analyze patterns of biodiversity, extinction, environmental change, and conservation challenges
• Understand molecular and morphological evolution, and how DNA changes translate into anatomical diversity
• Explore mechanisms that generate biological variation and how fitness shapes evolutionary outcomes
• Identify how new species form and interpret evolutionary relationships using phylogenetic trees
• Distinguish between scientific theories, facts, hypotheses, and why evolution is considered robust scientific truth
• Analyse evidence supporting evolution from fossils, DNA, biogeography, experiments, and selective breeding
• Examine how evolution operates across scales—from genes to lineages, and from moments to millions of years
• Compare species concepts and learn the challenges of defining species in living and fossil organisms
• Understand mechanisms of speciation and how geography contributes to reproductive isolation
• Master phylogenetic concepts: cladistics, homology, homoplasy, character coding, and tree-building methods
• Explore macroevolutionary patterns, including adaptive radiations, evolutionary rates, and developmental biology
• Trace major milestones in life’s history: abiogenesis, LUCA, photosynthesis, oxygenation, eukaryogenesis, and multicellularity
• Learn how plants, arthropods, and vertebrates independently conquered land, and how terrestrial ecosystems evolved
• Investigate the causes, patterns, and consequences of extinction—including the Big Five and the ongoing sixth extinction
• Apply palaeoecological tools to reconstruct ancient ecosystems, niches, gradients, and community structures
• Use fossils to interpret large‑scale biodiversity patterns and environmental change across deep time
• Understand conservation palaeobiology and how geohistorical data inform today’s conservation challenges
• Explore environmental stressors—past and present—and how multiple stressors shape ecosystem responses
• Learn the importance of geoheritage and the principles of preserving geological and fossil resources
• Follow the historical development of palaeontology—from folklore and Enlightenment science to modern, data‑driven approaches

Life on Earth carries a story written in molecules, bones, sediments, and branching lineages. This course guides you through that story—from the origins of life and the rise of complex cells to multicellularity, animals, life on land, mass extinctions, and modern conservation. You’ll learn the mechanisms that power evolution (variation, heredity, selection), how molecular changes become anatomical diversity through development, and how scientists reconstruct the tree of life using evidence from DNA, fossils, and comparative morphology.

We’ll explore species concepts and speciation, phylogenetic methods (cladistics, parsimony, Bayesian inference), macroevolutionary dynamics (rates, clocks, adaptive radiations), and evo‑devo insights that reveal how new functions emerge from old parts. You’ll trace milestones such as abiogenesis, oxygenation, eukaryogenesis via endosymbiosis, multicellularity, and the Cambrian explosion, then follow plants, arthropods, and vertebrates as they adapt to life on land—solving challenges like water loss, UV exposure, gravity, and air‑breathing.

You’ll examine extinction from background processes to the Big Five mass extinctions and the unfolding human‑driven sixth, learning to separate ultimate drivers from proximal kill mechanisms and to recognize how recovery and resilience work over millions of years. In palaeoecology, you’ll infer niches, gradients, communities, and depositional environments with care for taphonomic and sampling biases. In palaeobiogeography, you’ll see how barriers and provinces shape distributions, how mixing events spur diversification, and how continents and oceans evolve through time (e.g., the Iapetus ocean). Finally, conservation palaeobiology connects deep‑time knowledge to present decisions—revealing lag effects, thresholds, and multi‑stressor interactions that short‑term studies can miss, and underscoring the importance of protecting geoheritage.

By the end, evolution will be more than a topic—it will be your lens for understanding how life becomes, diversifies, collapses, and recovers, and how deep‑time context sharpens today’s biodiversity and conservation challenges.

Course Features

• Structured, short lectures with clear summaries for each topic.

• Concept‑first explanations that make complex ideas approachable (e.g., homology vs. homoplasy; crown‑ vs. stem‑groups).

• Evidence‑driven learning with case studies from fossils, DNA, ecology, and Earth history.

• Critical thinking emphasis: uncertainty, support values, sampling and preservation biases, and methodological trade‑offs.

• Real‑world relevance through conservation palaeobiology and geoheritage.

FAQs

• Is this course suitable for beginners? Yes. It begins with fundamentals and builds to advanced concepts in an accessible way.

• Does it include both biology and geology? Yes. It integrates DNA, development, fossils, ecology, and Earth systems.

• Will this help with teaching or communications? Absolutely—clear definitions, modern frameworks, and narrative coherence are emphasized.

• Is there a focus on current relevance? Yes. Conservation palaeobiology and geoheritage connect deep‑time insights to today’s decisions.

Curriculum at a Glance

• Section 1: Introduction — Foundations of evolution: variation, heredity, selection; genotype–phenotype via development.

• Section 2: Evolution — Theory vs. everyday language; consilience of evidence; scales of evolutionary change.

• Section 3: Phylogeny — Taxonomy vs. systematics; cladistics; characters; parsimony and Bayesian inference; homology/homoplasy.

• Section 4: Macroevolution — Adaptation and exaptation; clocks and rates; gradualism vs. punctuated equilibrium; adaptive radiations; evo‑devo.

• Section 5: Milestones — Abiogenesis; LUCA; oxygenation; eukaryogenesis; multicellularity; animals and the Cambrian record.

• Section 6: Life on Land — Precambrian terrestrial signals; plants, arthropods, vertebrates; forest ecosystems; Mesozoic–Cenozoic transitions.

• Section 7: Extinction — Background vs. mass extinctions; ultimate/proximal causes; Big Five; the Sixth.

• Section 8: Palaeoecology — Niches, gradients, community patterns; depositional environments; quantitative bias correction.

• Section 9: Conservation Palaeobiology — Stressors and multi‑stressor dynamics; lag effects; thresholds; geoheritage.

• Section 10: Palaeobiogeography — Provinces, barriers, mixing events (BIMEs); vicariance; oceans and continents in motion.

• Section 11: History of Palaeontology — From folklore and Enlightenment to modern molecular and computational approaches.

If you’re ready to understand how life evolves, diversifies, collapses, and recovers—and to use deep‑time insights to see today’s biodiversity and conservation challenges more clearly—enroll now and start reading Earth’s grand story with scientific confidence and curiosity.

Materials and videos provided under this course are on a Creative Commons (CC) License. Original work by Russel Gardwood has been used across the course.

Who this course is for:

• Students and lifelong learners who want a comprehensive, evidence‑based introduction to evolution, palaeobiology, and the history of life.
• Early‑career scientists or science enthusiasts seeking foundational knowledge in evolution, phylogeny, macroevolution, and ancient ecosystems.
• Geology and biology students who want to strengthen their understanding of how fossils, genetics, and ecology intersect.
• Educators, communicators, and science professionals looking to deepen their conceptual understanding of evolution and incorporate accurate modern explanations into their work.
• Anyone fascinated by life’s big questions—origins of life, biodiversity, mass extinctions, evolutionary processes, and how ancient patterns inform today’s conservation challenges.