The laboratory is devoted to systematic, field, and experimental studies. The modern discipline of animal behavior as a synthesis of ethology, comparative psychology, and population ecology will be studied. The ecological and evolutionary aspects of topics such as reproductive behavior, territoriality, and predator-prey interactions will be considered. An introduction to sociobiology will also be provided. Laboratories will involve both experiments and field observations.
Microbiology is the study of unicellular microscopic organisms.
This course will deal with microorganisms and their activities. It is concerned with their form, structure, reproduction, physiology, metabolism, and identification. This course also includes the study of their distribution in nature, their relationship to each other and to other living organisms, their beneficial and detrimental effects on human beings, and the physical and chemical changes they make in their environment. This class offers the opportunity for in-depth study and discussion of topics where science overlaps ethics. Example topics of discussion include death and dying, reproductive choices, genetics, human and animal experimentation, and bioengineered organisms.