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Courses
- Genetics
Biol 315
This course is designed for undergraduate
Biology majors, including general, pre-health science, and fisheries
and wildlife biology majors. This class is also suited to students
in related disciplines like forensic sciences, chemistry, and
biochemistry. The course will integrate classical and molecular
genetics. This approach is intended to provide a comprehensive
treatment of genetics and genomics. Advances in genetics and
genomics touch upon virtually every aspect of our lives. Depending
on the level of class interest and time constraints, we may drop
some chapters and spend more time on others. On occasion, the
class will be divided into small groups to solve problems and/or
discuss topics that are of interest to the general public (i.e.,
cloning, genetic testing of embryos, stem cell research, etc…).
- Genetics Review
Biol 499
The Genetics Review is a one-credit recitation
to aid students enrolled in Bio 315: Genetics. The class
is designed to review both ‘ big idea’ concepts from
lecture as well as to work through problems from class. In addition,
we will be reading the book Genome, which should help students
integrate and apply ideas from genetics in the context of the
human genome.
- Animal Behavior
Biol 338
Animal behavior is a broad field of study
that includes everything animals do. During the semester, we
will discuss the causes, development, function, and evolution
of behavior. The causes of behavior include all of the external
stimuli that influence the way animals behave (i.e., the physical,
biotic, and social environment) as well as the internal mechanisms
that regulate behavior (i.e., sensory and neuromuscular systems
and hormones). The development of behavior is concerned with
the ways in which behavior changes during an animal’s lifetime
(changes in behavior can be caused by external stimuli or internal
mechanisms). Functional analyses of behavior determine the “purpose” of
a behavior (i.e., how it influences feeding efficiency), which
may affect an animal’s
ability to survive and reproduce in a particular environment
(i.e., the adaptive significance of the behavior). Evolutionary
analyses of behavior consider the ways in which behavior
can change over generations (i.e., via natural and sexual
selection) as well as the historical origins of behaviors
(i.e., phylogenetic and comparative analyses of behavior).
- Seminar: Evolution and Mechanisms of Sex
Biol 491/Biol 503
This seminar focuses on the evolution
of sex and the basic developmental, genetic, and physiological
mechanisms that produce sex differences, as well as the environmental
factors that impinge on these mechanisms.
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