This intensive laboratory will investigate a variety of inheritance patterns in fruit flies. Independent work will be encouraged, and students may need to visit the laboratory outside scheduled periods. Limited demonstrations with mice may be presented. Energy relationships, nutrient cycling, population dynamics, environmental factors, and human ecology are stressed. Course is required for terrestrial ecology sophomores.
Emphasis is on plants, vegetation, and habitat.
Exposes upper-level students to a variety of research techniques used by practicing researchers in the fields of ecology and environmental studies in preparation for completion of a student research project. The first part of the course is devoted to guest speakers and addressing relevant research approaches, and the second part is devoted to student presentations. Students will prepare a research proposal, present the proposal, write a research paper, and present the research paper. An examination of current thinking about the correlation between neural activity and behavior using examples from invertebrate and vertebrate simple systems. The role of single neurons and neural networks in controlling animal behavior will be emphasized.