Biological Sciences

The course provides an introduction to the major vertebrate groups (jawless vertebrates, placoderms, cartilaginous fish, ray-finned fish, lobe-finned fish, early tetrapods, modern amphibians, lizards, snakes, turtles, crocodiles, dinosaurs and birds]. The core of the course concerns the anatomy and evolutionary relationships of these groups, which are examined through lectures and practical classes in the Grant Museum of Zoology. The course also uses vertebrates to illustrate two important aspects of palaeontological research: analytical methods and evolutionary processes. The methods introduced by these lectures include phylogenetic analysis, cladistic biogeography, and taxic and phylogenetic diversity estimation. Students also examine evolutionary phenomena such as exaptation and adaptation, extinction, adaptive radiation, and the influence of physical factors on evolutionary history.

This course examines the essential features of the host immune responses mounted by animals, both vertebrates and invertebrates, plants and microbes themselves. It explores the nature of the immune cells and molecules that recognize danger and how the immune system of animals and plants respond at the cellular and molecular level. 

This course provides a general introduction to entomology, including the main research areas of entomology. Topics include insect morphology, internal anatomy, physiology, classification, and ecology, as well as the methods of field collection and research.

The course covers selected aspects of physiological processes in health and disease: from the integrative function of single cells to whole systems physiology. A core emphasis is on the experimental basis for our foundational knowledge of how physiological systems function and their regulation. Topics may include cell and epithelial physiology, ion channels and transporters and their regulation, cell signaling and communication, endocrine and neuroendocrine physiology, sensory physiology, control and co-ordination of movement, control of feeding, and responses to stress.

Life history traits, e.g., growth rates, maturation schedules, and offspring size and number, are influenced by environmental and anthropogenic factors and in turn determine individual fitness and influence population growth rates. Because life history traits are heritable, variation in these traits tends to involve both evolutionary (genetic) and ecological (plastic) processes. Exploring life history variation provides an opportunity not only to understand the eco-evolutionary interactions that shape the observed patterns, but also to forecast population dynamics in changing environments. In this course, we design lectures to guide students to understand the concepts and theories of adaptive life history variation. In addition, the course project involves field sampling and laboratory experiments with mosquitofish Gambusia affinis, to gain hands-on experience on life history research. The objectives of this course are to understand the theoretical background of life history variation, and explore empirical variation in growth rates, maturation schedules, and offspring size and number based on the model species, mosquitofish.

This course provides a comprehensive understanding of processes in terrestrial ecosystems, and of effects of global change on processes and organisms. The focus is on carbon, water, and nutrient cycling between plants, soil organisms, soil, and atmosphere. This includes lessons in radiation and energy balance, photosynthesis, respiration, water use efficiency, and measures of stress, at leaf, plant, and canopy level. Belowground processes as plant nutrient uptake and microbial turnover, mobilization and immobilization of nutrients, plant-microbe-animal interactions, plant-soil-atmosphere interactions, rhizosphere processes and mycorrhizal function are also addressed, with focus on the importance of climate and anthropogenically induced climatic changes. Species/community effects on ecosystem processes and temporal dynamics are also addressed. Field and laboratory studies are performed and the results are presented orally and in reports. Participants present one or two journal papers with relation to the subjects taught in the lectures, including effects of global change on ecosystems.