Study Materials on Evolutionary Biology

This Great Tree of Life diagram is based primarily on the evolutionary relationships so wonderfully related in Dr. Richard Dawkins' The Ancestor's Tale. The smallest branches are purely illustrative; they are intended to suggest the effect of mass extinctions on diversity, and, on a few of the branches, changes in diversity through time. The diagram mainly tries to illustrate a great lesson of evolution; that we are related not only to every living thing, but also to every thing that has ever lived. 

(Image Courtesy: http://www.evogeneao.com/tree-of-life/tree-of-life.htm)

Introduction:

More or less we have all come across the term, viz., Evolutionary Biology. But one who is new to/not familiar with it may ask, "what exactly is evolutionary biology?". When I asked the same question to a friend of mine, Dr. Namrata Barik, she said; "Evolutionary biology mainly deals with the study of descent and the origin of species. This basically means the study of the changes adopted by various species over time in response to micro and macro changes in the environment. With the expansion of the universe, the chemical changes in the environment lead to organisms trying to survive in the harshest of conditions. Most disciplines of science has been supporting this study such as microbiology, cell biology, population biology, zoology, ornithology, herpetology, and paleontology. The changes occurring in the animals are mainly due to genetic mutations such as point mutation, gene duplication or even genome duplication. Some changes can be readily appreciated in an organism, while some occur duly over time. Characteristics may disappear and reappear again." She further added that; "Important works on evolutionary biology have been done by Theodosius Dobzhansky, E. B. Ford, R. A. Fisher, Sewall Wright, J. B. S. Haldane, Ernst Mayr, George Gaylord Simpson, and G. Ledyard Stebbins. Evolution is an ongoing process which proceeds to this day itself." Pretty cool, right? With that being said, here are the online materials at your disposal, to study/learn Evolutionary Biology. Enjoy! 

Lecture Videos:

• Evolutionary Biology lectures from Yale Courses.
• Khan Academy lectures on Evolution and natural selection.
• Fossils and evo-dvo.
• UC Berkeley Population Genetics lecture.
• Population Genetics lecture - II, UC Berkeley.
• Documentary - What Darwin Never Knew.
• A short video on Genetic Drift: Random Evolutionary change.
• A short video on Speciation.
• A short video on Speciation and Extinction.
• A short video on Phylogenetics.
• A short video on Cladograms.
• Population Genetics: When Darwin met Mendel.
• Natural Selection explained. 
• Speciation: Of Lingers & Men.
• Phylogenetics lecture, UC Berkeley.
• Lecture on Macroevolution, UC Berkeley.
• Lecture on Hominid Evolution, UC Berkeley.
• Lecture on Evolutionary Pattern and Process, UC Berkeley.
• Lecture on Population Dynamics, UC Berkeley.
• Lecture on Adaptive Radiation and Coevolution, UC Berkeley.
• Lecture on Species and Speciation - I, UC Berkeley.
• Lecture on Species and Speciation - II, UC Berkeley.
• Lecture on Darwin and Origin of Species - I, UC Berkeley.
• Lecture on Darwin and Origin of Species - II, UC Berkeley.
• Tons of Lecture Videos by Harvard faculty and other scientists and naturalists, presented by the Harvard Museum of Natural History.

Lecture Notes and Books:

• Some free e-books found legally on e-books directory on Evolutionary Biology, some of them being written by Charles Darwin himself.
• Free e-books on Evolutionary Biology as found legally on Free e-book centre.
• Lecture Notes on Evolution.
• Lecture Notes, Problem sets, Exams, and much more on Evolutionary Biology from BioMed 48 course of Brown University.
• Tons of free e-books on Evolutionary Biology.
• Bio-175 lecture notes.
• Lecture notes, homeworks, etc., from Advanced-level Evolutionary Biology course as taught in University of Basel.