Locomotion – the act of moving from A to B – is something we often take for granted, but it is undoubtedly one of the most important skills that the biosphere ever ‘learned’ to do: one that has played an absolutely central role in the four-billion-year evolutionary history of life. In this short course we will explore this long figurative and literal journey, looking at several major transitions in how living things move that have proved especially significant to the nature of life on Earth. These include the origin of locomotion itself in ancient bacteria and similar microscopic creatures; the origin of muscle-powered, nerve- (and later, brain-) guided movement in the early animal kingdom; the origin of a worm-like body and the huge variety of locomotory techniques ultimately available to such a creature; the invasion of land and the subsequent refinements to terrestrial locomotion that led to such iconic animals as dinosaurs and antelope; the curiously rare origin of flight; and the one-of-a-kind set of locomotory transitions that enabled the origin of humans.
Throughout the course we will see how locomotion physically works in the various different environments, learn about the anatomical and functional adaptations that make movement as effective (and, usually, as energetically cheap) as possible, and will find out why the evolutionary pathways to the various movement options often seem to be available to only a select few groups of organisms. Above all, we will discover why locomotion has proved so important for life on Earth, and will come to appreciate how a bit of locomotory know-how is a surprisingly powerful tool for understanding why life is the way it is, and illuminating our own place in the living world.
Learning outcomes
- To gain a working knowledge of the major locomotory transitions in the history of life, including those that enabled the origin of humans;
- To understand the basic mechanics of natural locomotion in different environments;
- To understand how and why locomotion has played a central role in the evolution of life;
- To appreciate the importance of historical constraint and opportunity in evolution;
- To gain a deeper understanding of why the living world is the way it is.
