Biol 337: Biology of Invertebrates

College of Charleston

Spring 2012

 

 

"No one with an unbiased mind can study any living creature, however humble, without being

struck with enthusiasm at its marvelous structure and properties" -- Charles Darwin

 

 

COURSE OVERVIEW

How many different ways can you build an animal?  Although animals all confront the same basic problems (how to feed, reproduce, exchange gases, eliminate wastes, and so on), evolution has produced more than 30 distinctive kinds of body designs, which we recognize as phyla.  This course will introduce you to the larger phyla and to several smaller ones.  The so-called “invertebrates” (found among all animal phyla) include by far a greater range of diversity in design than the "vertebrates" (which are just a part of one phylum).  We will use invertebrate groups to illustrate the radically different ways that animals have come, over the last 600 million years, to solve the same biological problems using different structures and processes.

 

 

As an active participant in this course you will come to be able to:

• describe how different designs solve (or create!) biological problems related to challenges in the animals' natural environments

• contrast major animal groups with regard to functional traits: movement, growth, nutrition, respiration, water balance, excretion, & defense

• explain how “shared, derived traits” are used to deduce patterns of evolutionary relationships

• identify the major characteristics used to deduce these relationships among major animal taxa

• describe large-scale patterns in the history of animal diversity and identify mechanisms that can lead to variation in animal body design

• explain why most animals are best represented as a series of life cycle stages that experience different environments and selection pressures

• put animals into the context of their communities, ecological interactions, and conservation problems

• explain and use terms and concepts that reflect your understanding of diversity in animal design

 

Along with introducing you to the diversity and evolution of animal body plans, my goal is to encourage critical thinking through interactive lectures, readings from texts and primary literature, short writing assignments, laboratory exercises, and concept-centered exams.  I encourage you always to ask questions, to seek out information on your own, to take intellectual risks, and to make your best effort!   Your job is to ask questions, seek information on your own, and take intellectual risks. I also hope you will learn from one another, especially when studying course material and completing laboratory exercises.
 

Syllabus information

• Instructor contact
• How to succeed in this course!
• Important policies

• Exam information

• Grade distribution and summary of deadlines

• Lecture schedule
• Laboratory schedule

• Reading assignment schedule

• How to complete writing assignments
• How to properly cite articles and avoid plagiarism

Downloadable files (username: biol337, pwd needed)

• Lecture guides and illustrations (must be printed for lecture)
• Lecture slides (study aid)

• Supplementary readings (part of reading assignments)

• Phylogenetic trees (study aid)
• Course questionnaire (for extra credit)

Score distributions on assignments/exams (Spring '11) (Spring '10) (Spring '09) (Spring '08) (Spring '07) (Fall '06) (Spring '06) (Fall '05)

Class photos (Spring '11) (Spring '07) (Spring '06)

 

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