| source Harvard (X) |
level |
department OEB (X) |
This discussion-based course covers the latest advances in the study of adaptation with a focus on controversial issues and integrative approaches. The course combines readings from recent primary literature with discussion with experts via video conferencing.
Score: 10.298006 Details | Listing | Web page
A critical discussion of current research in plant physiology including measurement techniques, modeling, and experimental approaches.
Score: 10.298006 Details | Listing | Web page
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Score: 10.298006 Details | Listing | Web page
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Score: 10.298006 Details | Listing | Web page
A review of the behavior of animals under natural conditions, with emphasis on both mechanistic and evolutionary approaches. Topics include classical ethology; behavioral endocrinology; behavioral genetics; learning and memory; communication; orientation, migration and biological rhythms; optimal foraging; evolutionary stable strategies; sexual selection; parental investment and mating systems; selfishness, altruism, and reciprocity; and sociality in vertebrates and invertebrates.
Score: 10.298006 Details | Listing | Web page
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Score: 10.298006 Details | Listing | Web page
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Score: 10.298006 Details | Listing | Web page
Biogeography aims to explain distributions of organisms through historical and ecological factors. This course will focus on the history of biogeographic research, developments in the area of historical biogeography, and on ecological processes that affect distributions of whole clades. Topics include plate tectonics and earth history, vicariance and dispersal, areas of endemism, phylogenetic niche conservatism, latitudinal gradients in species richness, and the theory of island biogeography. Software for biogeographical analysis will be discussed and evaluated.
Score: 10.298006 Details | Listing | Web page
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Score: 10.298006 Details | Listing | Web page
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Score: 10.298006 Details | Listing | Web page
The ocean as an ecological system, with focus on environmental-organismal interactions that regulate plankton production and transfer to higher trophic levels. Specific topics include bloom events, the limits to fish harvest, and the effects of climate change on ocean systems. Plankton demonstrations and optional coastal research vessel day trip.
Score: 10.298006 Details | Listing | Web page
An introduction to the biology of birds. Covers the fossil record and theories for avian origins, physiology and anatomy, higher-level systematics and field characters of the ~27 orders, speciation processes, nesting and courtship behavior, vocalizations, mating systems and sexual selection, cooperative breeding, demography and conservation. Optional field trip during spring break. Laboratories will consist of gross anatomy, bird watching excursions in the Cambridge area, field techniques and specimen preparation, and systematic study of avian groups using the collections of the Museum of Comparative Zoology.
Score: 10.298006 Details | Listing | Web page
Introduction to invertebrate diversity, will cover the development, adult anatomy, biology and evolutionary relationships of the main animal phyla including sponges, mollusks, annelids and arthropods among others. Special emphasis is placed on understanding the broad diversity of animal forms and their adaptations to different ecosystems and how these phenomena shape animal evolution. Lectures will be complemented with a mandatory weekly lab and a field trip to different areas of outstanding marine diversity in the Caribbean.
Score: 10.298006 Details | Listing | Web page
Four principal animal groups (insects, frogs, birds and mammals) sing and call in habitats around the world. We discuss the ecology, evolution and characteristics of such acoustic communities and the hypothesis that their members compete for "bandwidth". We discuss readings on acoustic ecology and evolution, and listen to (and watch, via spectrum analysis) soundscapes from selected tropical and temperate habitats. The capstone will be a fieldtrip to record natural soundscapes.
Score: 10.298006 Details | Listing | Web page
An introduction to the major groups of insects. The life history, morphology, physiology, and ecology of the main taxa are examined through a combination of lecture, lab, and field exercises. Topics include the phylogeny of terrestrial arthropods with a review of the extant orders, an analysis of abiotic and biotic factors regulating populations, including water balance, temperature, migration, parasitism, mutualism, sociality, insect/plant interactions, medical entomology, and the use of insects in biological control.
Score: 10.298006 Details | Listing | Web page
Introduction to the structure, diversity, and physiology of plants with an emphasis on evolutionary relationships and adaptations to life on land. Topics include growth, resource acquisition, interactions with other organisms (i.e., fungi, bacteria, insects), reproduction, and survival in extreme environments. Laboratory sessions provide an overview of plant and diversity and an introduction to basic physiological processes.
Score: 10.298006 Details | Listing | Web page
An examination of the major aspects of endosymbiosis with emphasis on mutualism, although some parasitic interactions are covered. Topics include origins of the eukaryotic cell, specificity and recognition of partners, distribution and diversity of associations, and coevolution of host and symbiont.
Score: 10.298006 Details | Listing | Web page
This course explores the fascinating diversity of the kingdom fungi, including evolution, ecology and morphology. All major groups of fungi, from smuts to molds, will be included. Students will use a variety of techniques to learn about fungi and their activities.
Score: 10.298006 Details | Listing | Web page
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Score: 10.298006 Details | Listing | Web page
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Score: 10.298006 Details | Listing | Web page
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Score: 10.298006 Details | Listing | Web page
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Score: 10.298006 Details | Listing | Web page
The mathematics and computation of ancestral inference in population genetics. Theory relates observable genetic data to factors of evolution such as mutation, genetic drift, migration, natural selection, and population structure.
Score: 10.298006 Details | Listing | Web page
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Score: 10.298006 Details | Listing | Web page