Course Syllabus

Course Description:

This course sequence, intended for majors, includes a survey of the biology and diversity of organisms and examines the basic principles governing evolution of organisms and interactions between organisms and the environment. The course sequence emphasizes classification, structure and function of organisms, ecological principles, and mechanisms of evolution.

Student Learning Outcomes:

Upon successful completion of the course, students will be able to:

  • Apply the processes of scientific inquiry including experimental design.
  • Carry out an experiment to test a specific hypothesis using appropriate controls.
  • Explain the essential elements of life, major hypotheses for life’s history, mechanisms for the diversification of life, and macroevolution.
  • Apply the tools of evolutionary biology to the analysis and evaluation of historical relationships among organisms.
  • Describe mechanisms of evolutionary change including micro-evolutionary forces that determine patterns of genetic diversity within species.
  • Provide evidence for evolution.
  • Evaluate the ecological relationships of organisms at the population, community, and ecosystem level.
  • Describe flow of energy within an ecosystem and the role of nutrient cycling in maintaining ecosystem integrity.
  • Explain fundamental prokaryotic replication, metabolism, and cellular structure in relationship to evolution of diversity.
  • Compare and contrast differences in animal development and life cycles.
  • Compare and contrast differences in plant development and life cycles.
  • Describe how plants and animals maintain homeostasis: water and ion balance, gas exchange, energy and nutrient acquisition, temperature regulation.
  • For major taxa of protists, fungi, plants and animals,
  • Identify major groups and arrange them within currently recognized taxa.
  • Compare and evaluate different phylogenies in terms of relationships amongst taxa.
  • Describe structural organization/morphology.
  • Identify and describe structures and relate them to their functions.
  • Classify individual representative specimens to phylum.

The course sequence will mostly follow the AP Biology units and topic sequence, which parallels the GMU course content for most units.  However, extra depth and breadth may be present in this course from the AP Biology curriculum to meet or exceed GMU learning outcomes.  As a national standard, utilizing AP Biology Essential Knowledge statements as the course standards to assess mastery of content and learning outcome progression serves to streamline the visualization of student progress for course goals.  In addition to these standards, the second semester of the course will also include learning outcomes for assessment from the Human Anatomy and Physiology Society, as the content for human systems is not a required unit in the AP Biology curriculum, but it is a mandatory requirement for the GMU course.  AP Biology Science Practices will be used to frame assignments and assessments throughout the semester.

Course Content:

  • Animal Systems Structure:  Anatomy
  • Animal Systems Function:  Physiology
  • Animal Development and life cycles
  • Population Ecology
  • Population structure, growth, regulation, and fluctuation
  • Intraspecific interactions
  • Social systems and behavior
  • Community Ecology
  • Interspecific interactions:  Predator-prey relations, competition, symbiosis
  • Community structure and succession
  • Ecosystem diversity (Biomes)
  • Ecosystems ecology: Trophic structure
  • Energy flow
  • Nutrient cycling and ecosystem integrity
  • Conservation biology

Textbook:

Campbell, Reese, Urry, Cain. Campbell Biology, 11th ed., Pearson Benjamin Cummings, San Francisco


Biology 2e from OpenStax, ISBN 978-1-947172-51-7

You have several options to obtain this book:

You can use whichever formats you want. Web view is recommended -- the responsive design works seamlessly on any device.

 

BIOL 106-107 Spring 2021.pdf