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Organismal Biology II (BIO 212)

Course Outline

Lecture Text:
Neil Campbell, Biology, 4th ed.

Class Meets:
MWF 9:20-10:10 am

Attendance and Honor Code:
Students are expected to attend both lectures and lab on a regular basis. Students in this course will comply to the University of Richmond Honor Code.

Goal of Course:
As the title of this course is Organismal Biology; consequently, it should be clear to you that the goal of this course is for you to become familiar with the diversity of living organisms. We will primarily focus on animal diversity, since you have covered most of plant diversity in Organismal Biology I.

You will learn some of the basic concepts, essential terms, and kinds of questions that scientists ask when working in organismal biology. While learning the diversity of organismal life, you will learn general ecology, behavior, anatomy, evolution, adaptations, physiology, and behavior of the organisms studied. For most of you, this will be your first opportunity to learn about the wonderful diversity of animal life. Indeed, because of the great diversity of life, the course has a lot of material to cover. As a result, the course will move quickly and sometimes it may be difficult. I hope you will take advantage of this opportunity to learn about the diversity of organisms with whom we share the planet. Furthermore, I am optimistic that you will find the content stimulating.

Finally, as an organismal biologist myself, I hope my lectures will transmit to you the excitement and enthusiasm I feel every time I learn about a new adaptation or characteristic of the animals on which I do my research. Hopefully, this may motivate some of you to pursue a life long career of studying organisms.

Class Format:

• Lecture The lecture will try to highlight key concepts important to the understanding of the diversity of groups. Also, I will present a quick survey of the radiation and evolutionary success of each of those groups. Please be aware that lecture time, in most cases, will not simply repeat information given in your textbook. This is particularly the case when we will look at animal diversity. Also, please feel free to ask as many questions as you need. Feel free to stop me at any time during lecture if I am going to fast (I tend to speed up!!!), if you do not understand the concepts presented, or even if you cannot hear or understand me!. I will try to answer each and all of your questions then, but keep in mind that sometimes I will defer your question for later, because I may have originally planned to explain that or a related topic in a few minutes. Also, I will try to answer your questions in a couple of different ways; however if you still have troubles understanding the idea, I may tell you to see me after class; this is with the sole purpose of moving the course forward. In those cases, please come see me after class, I do want to answer your questions!!
• Laboratory The course consists of lecture section and a separate laboratory section. You need to make sure you have signed up for one of the 9 laboratory sections that you can choose from. Laboratory topics and exercises have been designed to be independent from lecture, i.e., lecture and lab are not correlated. The lab format and requirements will be described further by your laboratory instructor. You can accumulate a total of 400 points from laboratory exercises.
• Exams There will be three, one hour exams and a two hour final exam. Each exam will consist of multiple choice questions. Each one hour exam will be worth 120 points and the final two hour exam will be worth 240 points, half of the final will cover the last set of lectures (last quarter) and the other half will be cumulative. Exams will cover information from both the lecture and the text. I will assign the information from the text that you need to know and that will not be covered in lecture.
• Grading:
  Your final course grade will depend on your performance both in lecture and lab. Again, laboratory requirements will be explained in your lab section.
  • Exam 1-120 pts
  • Exam 2-120 pts
  • Exam 3-120 pts
  • Final Exam-240 pts
  • TOTAL OF 600 points
    +
  • Lab Total 400 pts
  • Overall total of 1000 pts

     

  Grades will be assigned on a 90-80-70-60% basis; there is no "curve".

  Grade Distribution

  A+ = 1000-967	C+ = 799-767
  A = 966-933	C = 766-733
  A- = 932-900	C- = 732-700
  B+ = 899-867	D+ = 699-667
  B = 866-833	D = 666-633
  B- = 832-800	D- = 632-600

• Make-up Exams: There are no make-up exams. Because of the large class size and my desire to get your exams graded and returned to you as fast as possible, I cannot allow anyone to make-up exams that are missed. Exam dates are given in the syllabus, so please pay attention to those dates and plan accordingly.
• Honor Code: This course abides by the principles of the Honor Code. I expect there will be no Honor Code violations, or reasons to suspect any violations. If you know about or suspect cheating in this course, you are abide by the code and inform your instructor.
• Attendance: I do not require or directly reward attendance. However, there often will be information in lecture that you will be tested on in the exams and that is not in your textbook. I expect you will arrive promptly and that you will all sit as close to the front as you can (that will save my voice and will help you to hear me better). If you must come in late, please do so quietly, and try to minimally disturb others, e.g., you may sit in open spaces in the back.