But the means of travel are well worth our attention. This guidebook begins with a discussion of the tools you need for studying developing organisms and moves on through the events of development, first in simple and then in more complex organisms. Tools of the trade Much of the study of developmental biology involves craft. The first three chapters and chapter 12 will school you in the methods of this craft, teaching you how to record and report data, how to create your own tools, how to be master of your microscope, and how to prepare tissue for microscopic study. A simple organism Not all organisms use sexual reproduction as the preferred method for passing on their genes.
Sex is expensive, burdened as it is with the costs of meiosis.
The the frugal cellular slime mold, consisting of only a few cell types, seldom indulges in sex, instead undergoing repeated cycles of asexual reproduction. Chapter 4 shows you how to design experiments that use this organism to explore principles of development operating in the realm of simple organization. In organisms that do use sexual reproduction, gametogenesis marks the beginning of development. Chapter 6 invites you to explore questions surrounding the mechanisms of this event using sea urchin gametes. The journey started at fertilization continues at breakneck speed through cleavage.