BIO 4480 Vertebrate Zoology

This course is designed for biology majors and replaces traditional introductory biology courses. The overarching goal is to introduce students to collegiate biology by teaching them how to carry out scientific research. Across all sections of this course, students will pose scientific questions, design and critique experiments, run those experiments, evaluate experimental outcomes, and communicate those outcomes. Within this framework of investigative inquiry, students will learn introductory content that will not only be meaningful for the current course, but will allow for a smoother transition to their sophomore year. Content areas include ecology, genetics, evolution, biodiversity, reproduction, development, and cellular/molecular mechanisms.
Course fluidly transitions between lecture and lab with an equivalency to 3 lecture hours and 3 laboratory hours per week.  No P/F.
Pre or corequisite(s): CHEM 1110 Chemical Principles I ; or prerequisite of CHEM 1100 Prep Chemistry.
(Multiple sections normally offered each semester.)

This course emphasizes molecular mechanisms associated with intracellular structures, metabolism, genetic information transfer, heredity, and evolution in prokaryotic and eukaryotic organisms.
Three lectures per week with one three-hour lab per week.
Prerequisite(s): BIO 1400FYW Introduction to Biological Inquiry, CHEM 1110 Chemical Principles I , CHEM 2100 Organic Chemistry I .
(Normally offered each semester.)

An introduction to the interaction of life with the environment at the molecular, organismal through ecosystem levels, highlighting the major factors influencing evolutionary change. Topics include genetic and phenotypic variation, natural selection, adaptation, speciation, symbiosis and populations dynamics especially in light of human interference, and ecosystem structure and function. Where possible, principles of evolution and ecology will be integrated.
Three lectures per week.
One 3-hour lab per week, including field, laboratory and greenhouse work.
Prerequisite(s): BIO 1400FYW Introduction to Biological Inquiry, CHEM 1110 Chemical Principles I and CHEM 2100 Organic Chemistry I .
(Normally offered each semester.)