How do plants convert solar energy to biological energy that ultimately powers your life# How do they use that energy to take carbon dioxide from the atmosphere and turn it into the carbon that makes up every living organism on the planet, including you# That’s photosynthesis! And believe it or not, it plays a huge role in controlling climate change! How do plants overcome gravity and get water from the soil to the top of a 300 ft tall redwood tree# Turns out they have designed a transport system that uses a really powerful source of energy for suction! How do plants take nitrogen gas out of the air and turn it into fertilizer when it’s so expensive and energy-dependent for humans to do the same thing# It’s a secret biological partnership! And how do plants survive when it is freezing cold in the winter or incredibly hot in the desert# How is it that plants can tell the time of day, or know what season it is# How do they know which way is up when they grow# What nasty things do plants do to insects that want to eat them# How the heck can a plant live underwater# This is just a taste of the incredible world of plants and their physiology!

Instructor: Seemann

Typically offered: Fall alternate years, odd

Credits: 3

Format: Lecture

Grading: Grading is based on a midterm exam, a final, and occasional quizzes.

From the foraging habits of the dung beetle to the complex social system of African lions, Animal Behavior is a fascinating field of study. This course explores the ecological, evolutionary, and mechanistic basis of Animal Behavior, from broad patterns to bizarre oddities. Examples of topics include fighting and territoriality, mate choice and competition, sociality, altruism, parental care, mating systems, communication, and cooperation. Although the course is primarily lecture-based, we also use non-traditional# learning activities, such as designing group research projects and presentations, reading relevant journal articles then video-chatting with the authors, and applying the scientific method.

Instructor: Knutie

Typically offered: Fall Spring

Credits: 3

Format:

Grading: The course is assessed with three midterm and one final exam, a group project and presentation, three assignments, and class participation.

This course explores the myriad variations in plant form. How can developmental modifications of three simple organs, roots, stems and leaves, result in such tremendous variation in whole plant morphology# We first learn the fundamental principles of plant construction, development and differential growth and then use these concepts to analyze an astonishingly wide variety of plants using hundreds of living plants in the EEB Biodiversity Living Plant Collection.

Instructor: Jones

Typically offered: Fall alternate years, even

Credits: 4

Format: Integrated lecture/lab in 3 hr blocks; short content lectues followed by a lot of looking at plants

Grading: 2 Midterms (Essay and drawings, lecture and lab combined); 1 Final; 1 Presentation

Instructor:

Typically offered: Fall alternate years, odd

Credits:

Format:

Grading:

The course uses lectures, student projects, and class discussion of scientific and media-reported current events to explore a wide variety of current issues in environmental science emphasizing linkages between earth, oceans, atmosphere, and biosphere. Topics include: earth processes, climate change; human population; food resources; genetically-engineered organisms; soil/water/air resources; alternative energy; biodiversity; deforestation/restoration; urban planning; risk assessment; tradeoffs; problem-solving; alternative futures. Learning objectives include: 1) to learn the principles of scientific inquiry (to propose critical tests of hypotheses, analyze data, remain skeptical, propose new hypotheses); 2) to obtain experience evaluating environmental problems and explaining them to others in a scientific context; 3) to acquire breadth in environmental science, 4) to explore environmental challenges and potential solutions, 5) to integrate scientific, political, economic, and social aspects of environmental problems, 6) to understand the impact of science and technology on human society globally by examining case studies, theories, and applications; 7) to explore ethical, cultural, and aesthetic dimensions of environmental problems, and 8) to learn to evaluate, summarize, and present scientific ideas.

Instructor: Simon

Typically offered: Fall alternate years, odd

Credits: 3

Format: Lecture, discussion, field trips, visiting lecturers.

Grading: Student Projects

Plants are the foundation of Earth’s terrestrial landscapes and critical to human civilizations. In this course we explore the evolution of morphological, physiological, and genomic traits associated with the shift of plants onto land from aquatic ancestors, and the major innovations leading to the rise of flowering plants. We discuss how plants interact with animals and fungi and how they influence global biogeochemistry. Laboratories explore the diversity of morphological and anatomical traits of living and extinct plants, apply phylogenetic methodology to morphological and molecular characters, and discuss the latest exciting research in plant evolution.

Instructor: Goffinet and Lewis

Typically offered: Spring alternate years, even

Credits: 4

Format: 3 h lecture, 3 h lab

Grading: Lecture: quizzes, homework, midterm, final; Lab: projects, write-ups, oral presentations, lab quizzes

Instructor:

Typically offered: Fall

Credits: 3

Format:

Grading:

Bryophytes and lichens are significant components of today’s biodiversity, contribute essential ecosystem functions and can even be major players in shaping changes in global climate. This course explores the morphological diversity of bryophytes and lichens, the history of their diversification, the spatial distribution of their species diversity, their ecological significance, their interaction with their symbionts and their role in biomonitoring. The laboratory sessions provide opportunities to explore the body of bryophytes and lichens, and discuss recent primary research advancing our understanding of their biology.

Instructor: Goffinet

Typically offered: Spring alternate years, odd

Credits: 4

Format: 3 h lecture, 3 h lab

Grading:

Instructor: Schlichting

Typically offered: Fall

Credits: 2

Format:

Grading:

What, if anything, do medical practitioners need to know about evolution to prevent, diagnose, or treat disease? Students will learn: 1) key concepts in evolutionary biology illustrated with biomedically relevant examples, 2) the evolutionary roots of many inherited genetic disorders, and how this informs diagnosis and treatment, 3) to critically evaluate evolutionary explanations for health and disease, 4) how evolution of parasites, pathogens, and disease vectors leads to emergence of new diseases, or failure of treatment strategies, 5) how cancer is fundamentally an evolutionary process within a patient’s body, and 6) how evolution can be used as a tool to facilitate drug discovery, vaccine design, and treatment plans.

Instructor: Bolnick (Storrs)

Typically offered: Fall

Credits: 3

Format: Lecture

Grading: 6 online quizzes, 3 exams, participation, and a written research project.

Humans have an innate connection to freshwater systems, be they ponds, lakes, or streams. Join this course to understand the inner workings of these freshwater ecosystems through linked lectures, discussions, labs, and by studying real systems. You will understand the diversity, processes, and organisms that make freshwater systems unique and so important to life on Earth. We will also learn about the many threats to freshwater systems and how to manage these threats. Through an independent project, you will apply your learning by following your own scientific curiosity. The course is perfect for future scientists, resource managers, educators, or just anyone who enjoys class outside.

Instructor: Urban

Typically offered: Fall alternate years, odd

Credits: 4

Format: 2 lectures and an afternoon lab each week

Grading: Midterm, final, independent project, plus quizzes, participation, and lab reports

Algae are often thought of as either the answer to our fuel crisis, as nuisances, or the cause of harmful blooms. Algae are diverse organisms forming the foundation of marine and terrestrial ecosystems. In this class we discuss the roles of algae in shaping past and present ecosystems, how they diversified over evolutionary history, their economic uses, and how they are impacted by human activities. The lab emphasizes identification and properties of different types of algae, and optional weekend field trips provide first hand experience seeing algae in their natural environments. We also read and discuss the textbook and selected primary literature.

Instructor: Lewis

Typically offered: Fall alternate years, even

Credits: 4

Format: 3 h lecture, 3 h lab

Grading: Lecture: quizzes, midterm, take home final; Lab: projects, write-ups, oral presentations, lab quizzes

Mammals evolved during the time of the dinosaurs and have come to occupy every continent and almost every imaginable habitat, from equatorial rain forests, wind-swept deserts, and polar ice flows to the abyssal depths of the world s oceans. They include some of the smallest vertebrates ever to live, as well as the largest, the fastest runners, and most voracious predators. And they include ourselves. How did this astonishing diversity evolve# In this course we examine the origin and fossil history of mammals, their structure and function, taxonomy and phylogeny, diversity, behavior and ecology. Through an understanding of mammals, students will come to learn general principles of organismal evolution and ecology.

Instructor: Davis and Schwenk

Typically offered: Fall alternate years, odd

Credits: 4

Format: 3 h lecture, 3-4 h lab

Grading: Lecture exams; lab practicals and quizzes; and a field project.

Instructor: TBD

Typically offered: Variable

Credits:

Format:

Grading:

Instructor:

Typically offered: Fall Spring

Credits:

Format:

Grading:

Introduction to local parasites, their evolution, identification, and common methods used for collection and preservation. Adaptations and evolutionary trends seen in various parasitic groups and how they affect their hosts. Laboratories, collection outings, and field trips required.

Instructor: TBD

Typically offered: Summer

Credits: 3

Format: Lecture, Laboratory, daily field trips

Grading:

This lab-intensive course applies a broad approach to the study of amphibians and reptiles.# The first half of the course addresses the evolution, feeding, morphology, social behavior, larval ecology, water relations, thermoregulation, and systematics of amphibians.# The second half considers the systematics, morphology, biomechanics, feeding, physiology, sensory biology, and behavior of reptiles.# The laboratory is a very hands-on and time-intensive exploration of the systematics, distribution, habitat, and identification of amphibians and reptiles around the world with a focus on Connecticut species.# Students will also participate in several field trips during which we will observe these animals in their natural habitats.

Instructor: Schwenk and Herrick

Typically offered: Spring alternate years, odd

Credits: 4

Format: 2 hr Lecture and 4 hr Lab

Grading: Grading is based on a midterm, and endterm, two lab practicals, and a final exam.

Field-intensive study of diversity, ecology, physiology, behavior, adaptation and identification of the amphibians and reptiles of the region; herpetofaunal research methods. Field trips required.

Instructor: TBD

Typically offered: Summer

Credits: 3

Format: Lecture, Laboratory, daily field trips

Grading:

Introduction to animal behavior, focusing on observational methods, collecting techniques, and analysis of behavioral data. Topics include foraging theory, territoriality, navigation, social behavior, communication, mating systems and sexual selection. Field trips required.

Instructor: TBD

Typically offered: Summer

Credits: 3

Format: Lecture, Laboratory, daily field trips

Grading:

This course uses the study of social insects — especially ants, bees, wasps, and termites — to advance understanding of deep principles in evolution, behavior, and ecology. Social insects are renowned for forming highly integrated societies that are based on cooperation and altruism, for extraordinary individual and collective behaviors, and for their immense ecological impacts. Students will learn how comparative approaches, quantitative tests of theory, and elegant experiments on insect societies have been used to resolve controversial issues. Examples: Do honey bees have a dance language# Does altruism evolve by kin selection# What is the genetic and physiological basis of social behavior# What are the causes of colony collapse disorder

Instructor: Adams

Typically offered: Spring alternate years, even

Credits: 3

Format: 3 hours of lecture

Grading: Grading is based on two exams during the semester, a final exam, two short papers, participation through clickers, and other short exercises.

This course introduces the diversity, evolution, classification system, and utility of flowering plants. Laboratory compares vegetative and reproductive characters of major families and practices plant identification skills. Students will gain appreciation of the tremendous diversity of flowering plants and their ecological as well as economic importance; and gain skills to identify major plant families on-site and key plants to species given appropriate resources.

Instructor: Yuan

Typically offered: Spring alternate years, odd

Credits: 4

Format: NA

Grading: NA

Inside your body are the physical remnants of distant ancestors a fish gill in your throat, the jaws of a reptile in your ear, and the braincase of a shark in your skull (to name just a few). Other mysteries abound: the nerve that supplies the diaphragm below your ribs travels all the way from the neck; lower back pain afflicts 80% of adults. None of these things make sense except in light of evolution and the transformation of vertebrate form and function through time. This course teaches the fundamentals of anatomy while also tracing the evolution and diversity of vertebrate bodies, their adaptations, functions and biomechanics. In the lab you will experience anatomy directly through dissection, live animal demonstrations, and our extensive collection of bones and skulls.

Instructor: Schwenk

Typically offered: Fall alternate years, even

Credits: 4

Format: 3 h lecture, 3 h lab

Grading: Lecture exams; lab practicals and quizzes

The biggest challenges of being a plant are that they can’t go inside when it gets too hot or too cold, they can’t move around till they find something to eat, they can’t pick up and leave when there is nothing left to drink where they currently are, and when a bug comes to eat them, they can’t call an Uber. Rather, plants have to figure out how to take light from the sun, carbon dioxide from the air, and water and nutrients from the soil under the often really tough environmental conditions of where the seed that produced them happen to sprout. Plants have to figure out how to do this in a desert# when it is really hot, or in the alpine, where it is really cold. They have to figure out how to do this when there is almost no light when they are trying to grow at the bottom of a tropical rainforest, or when there is too much light (yes, avoiding sunburn is a real problem for plants too!). Plants have evolved an amazing array of physiological processes and adaptations that allow them to not only cope with the many challenges of the earth’s diverse environments, but to prosper in the most brutal of climates, to make the world the green place we see when we step outside, and to be the fundamental source of food for our existence. And as if they don t have enough to do just to survive, plants serve on the front line of fighting back against the human-caused rise of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere that is driving global climate change.

Instructor: Seemann

Typically offered: Fall alternate years, even

Credits: 3

Format: 3 hr Lecture

Grading: Grading is based on a midterm exam, a final, and occasional quizzes.

Instructor: TBD

Typically offered: Variable

Credits:

Format:

Grading:

The course is focused on the biology of the parasites responsible for human diseases. It aims to provide: an overview of the major parasite taxa infecting humans globally, an appreciation of the diversity of life-cycles, portals of entry, sites infected, modes of reproduction these parasites employ, and a basic understanding of the pathology associated with, and diagnosis of, infection with each major parasite group.

Instructor: Caira

Typically offered: Fall

Credits: 3

Format: 3 h lecture

Grading: Exams, in-class activities.

This course will introduce students in the biological sciences to the concepts and approaches associated with big data.
Students will interact with real data from molecular biology, ecology, evolutionary biology, and systems biology.
We will emphasize data creation, integration, curation, manipulation, and visualization. This will enable students to take complex datasets and distill them into information that can lead to reasoned conclusions.

Instructor: Wegrzyn

Typically offered: Spring alternate years, even

Credits: 4

Format: 3 hr Lecture/Lab Integrated

Grading: laboratories (weekly), blogs entries/comments (weekly), and a final project (oral presentation and code)

In this course, we learn about the ancient Earth and the organisms that inhabited it.# The lectures cover two general areas: 1) concepts and methods in paleobiology, and 2) the chronology of life s history as documented in the fossil record. We discuss all types of organisms, although the focus is on animals, and to a lesser extent plants. In lab, students learn to identify and interpret major groups of fossils using (mostly) real fossil specimens.

Instructor: Bush

Typically offered: Spring alternate years, even

Credits: 4

Format: 3 credits of lecture, 1 credit of lab, 1 field trip (weather permitting)

Grading: Grading is based on 2 midterm exams, the final exam, and the lab assignments

An introduction to the biology of fishes, with an emphasis on adaptation and evolutionary diversification. Topics include the evolution of major groups, morphology, physiology, behavior, and population and community ecology. Lectures, critical discussions of current journal articles, student presentations, and exercises in the field and laboratory. Field trips required.

Instructor: Schultz

Typically offered Spring alternate years, odd

Credits: 4

Format: 3 one hour lectures and one 3 h lab per week

Grading: Grades are based on exams, short written assignments, lab practical exams, and student presentations

Physiology of animals in an evolutionary context: how individuals cope and how species adapt to natural environments. Topics include energy budgets, temperature regulation, energetics of locomotion, respiration, feeding and diet. Lectures, student-led presentations, and critical discussions of current journal articles.

Instructor: Schultz

Typically offered Spring alternate years, even

Credits: 3

Format: 3 one hour lectures

Grading: Grades are based on exams, short written assignments and student presentations

More than half of all animals on the planet are insects and still only about 25% have been named. Insects tether together the world s terrestrial and freshwater food webs. They pollinate our crops and more than three-quarters of the world s flowering plants. You will descend into a universe of extraordinary diversity, beauty, boundless anatomical variety, change, and discovery. Lectures treat all aspects of entomological science: basic morphology and physiology, development, behavior, ecology, and aspects of applied entomology. The lab emphasizes sight identification of the common families and their life histories. In case 7 million species is not enough for you, you will also leave the course knowing more about spiders and other terrestrial arthropods than most biologists.

Instructor: Garcia-Robledo or Wagner

Typically offered Fall

Credits: 4

Format: 2 lectures and an 2 afternoon labs each week

Grading:

Methods of Ecology is an intensive, hands-on course designed as a primer in how to conduct ecological research. The course is particularly useful for students interested in pursuing research-relevant or data-oriented careers and for Honors students who will be writing theses. By the end of the course, students will 1) know how to ask research questions and develop testable hypotheses, 2) be familiar with a variety of field sampling and computational methods commonly used in ecological studies, including how to code using the program R, 3) be able to enter data, visualize it, and run a variety of fundamental statistical tests, and 4) be confident in how to turn collected data into a publishable scientific manuscript.

Instructor: Tingley

Typically offered Fall

Credits: 4

Format: Two 4-hour combined lecture/labs per week, including 9 field trips

Grading: Weekly assignments, final project report, no tests

Collection, identification, and ecology of insects. Includes extensive field trips.

Instructor: TBD

Typically offered Summer

Credits: variable

Format: Lecture, Laboratory, daily field trips

Grading:

Birds are the most numerous, most visible, and arguably most influential land animals on earth. Birds have provided humans with food, clothing, decoration, pets, pest control and design inspiration since the beginning of recorded history, and have been critical test subjects for the most important ideas in science. This lecture course explores how the unique biology of birds evolved, and resulted in the enormous diversity of bird form and function we see today. (Taken with EEB 4261, fulfills the Animal Diversity requirement for EEB majors)

Instructor: Rubega

Typically offered Spring

Credits: 2

Format: Lecture

Grading:

This course builds on the background knowledge gained in EEB 4260 (a prerequisite, or required concomitantly) to help students gain skills in the professional study of birds. Students will put avian evolution and diversity in context by learning bird anatomy through hands-on dissection of wild bird specimens, and the skills (bird identification by sight and sound; bird survey technique; methods for quantifying behavior) needed to study birds directly. Most 4 hour lab sessions are spent outside, in all kinds of weather — this is a course for students who think the worst day outdoors is better than the best day in a classroom. (Taken with EEB 4260, fulfills the Animal Diversity requirement for EEB majors)

Instructor: Rubega

Typically offered Spring

Credits: 2

Format: Lab, weekly field trips

Grading:

Careers with state, federal or non-profit organizations as a bird biologist requires skills in the design and practice of bird surveys, behavioral observation, and identification of birds by sight and sound. This intensive summer course will immerse students in the practice of avian field biology through daily field trips and an independent project.

Instructor: TBD

Typically offered Summer

Credits: 3

Format: Lecture, Laboratory, daily field trips

Grading: EEB

This course focuses on the botany, systematics, and ecology of Connecticut’s native and exotic plants.# Students learn basic field botany skills including: writing detailed field notebooks, identifying local plants, making field presses, mounting herbarium records, and recognizing common New England habitats. This course relies primarily on outdoor field trips and is well suited to students who are interested in careers within wildlife management/field biology or who simply desire an in-depth knowledge of the nature surrounding UConn.

Instructor: TBD

Typically offered Summer

Credits: 3

Format: Lecture, Laboratory, daily field trips

Grading:

This is an introductory course of the survey type. Coverage includes the diversity of protozoan and metazoan groups that include species that parasitize animals. Some emphasis is placed on groups of particular veterinary and/or economic importance. Lectures and labs emphasize knowledge of the biology of individual parasites. Basic “principles of parasitism” and parasite ecology are introduced in the context of groups of parasites that exemplify these principles particularly well.

Instructor: Caira

Typically offered Fall alternate years, odd

Credits: 4

Format: 3 h lecture, 3 h lab

Grading: Exams, lab practicals, quizzes, and lab notebook.

This course provides an overview of the non-vertebrate animals. It emphasizes comparative study of form and function, and the complexity, diversity, and phylogenetic relationships of invertebrates.

Instructor: Caira

Typically offered Fall alternate years, even

Credits: 4

Format: 3 h lecture, 3 h lab

Grading: Exams, unknown specimen challenges, lab practicals, and quizzes.

This course explores internal structure of plants from a functional perspective. We combine microscope studies of plant anatomy with ecophysiology to examine how variation in the cellular configurations leaves, stems and roots reflects various adaptations to living on land. We approach increasing complexity from a phylogenetic and developmental perspective, building the plant body from embryos through flowers.

Instructor: Jones

Typically offered Fall alternate years, odd

Credits: 4

Format: Integrated lecture/lab in 3 hr blocks; short content lectues followed by a lot of looking at plants

Grading: