| DATES | QUESTION | READING | Web supplements |
| 1/20 | How is information transmitted between members of animal species? | Section 4.1, BME 4.1, BME 4.2, ELSI 4.1 | Firefly video, with Dr. Sara Lewis, who's research is in this section |
| 1/23 | Does group living require more derived mechanisms of information transfer? | Section 4.2, BME 4.3 | |
| 1/25 | How do plants of the same species recognize one another? | Section 4.3 |
At Wikipedia: check out "types" and "mechanics" |
| 1/27 | How do single-celled organisms communicate with one another? | Section 4.4 |
TED talk by Dr. Bonnie Bassler, explaining quorum sensing (longer - about 15 minutes) |
| 1/30 | Have organisms evolved to exploit communication between individuals of other species? | 5.1 | |
| 2/1 | How do organisms assess their environment when searching for resources? | 5.2, BME 5.1, BME 5.2 |
Animal Behavior Online explanation of the Marginal Value Theorem Crows cracking nuts (scroll down the page to see the video - crows are so intelligent!) |
| 2/3 | Is chemical communication
used to block competition or defend self? How does change in number of species affect information content of an ecological system? |
5.3, 5.4, BME 5.3, ELSI 5.1 | BME 5.2 Tadpoles Excel File |
| 2/6 | What causes variation of traits? | 8.1, BME 8.1 | BME 8.1 Galton Regression Excel File |
| 2/8 | How does selection act on individuals with variable characteristics? | 8.2, BME 8.2 | |
| 2/10 | What are your questions about the upcoming review? | ||
| 2/13 | Can we observe descent with modification in the adaptive radiation of orchids? How did wings evolve in bats? | 8.3, BME 8.3, Section 8.4 | BME 8.2 Evolutionary tree Excel File |
| 2/15 | Can we observe evolution in our lifetimes, using pesticide resistance in mosquitoes? | 8.5 ELSI 8.1 | |
| 2/17 | When are two isolated populations not isolated? | 9.1, BME 9.1, BME 9.2 | BME 9.1 Genetic Distance Excel file BME 9.2 Frequency distributions and flight distances Excel file |
| 2/20 | Do populations evolve in the absence of natural selection? | 9.2, BME 9.3 | Genetic drift at Evolution 101 website (UC Berkeley) Genetic drift simulation at The Biology Project (U of Arizona) |
| 2/22 | Where, when, and from what ancestors did humans evolve? | 9.3, ELSI 9.1 & 9.2 | Becoming Human interactive website (by The Institute of Human Origins) What does it mean to be human? (Smithsonian Institute website) |
| 2/24 | How does the amount of light
affect the distribution of photosynthesizing organisms? Why do animals migrate and how do they know when to migrate? |
9.4 & 9.5 | |
| 2/27 | How have species evolved as a consequence of their interactions with other species? | 10.1, BME 10.1 | |
| 2/29 | When and how did plants colonize land? How have ecological communities adapted to disturbance? | 10.2, 10.3, BME 10.2, ELSI 10.1 | |
| 3/2 | How will communities respond to climate change? | 10.4, ELSI 10.2 | Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) |
| 3/12 | How do genetic diseases affect cells and organisms? | 13.1, BME 13.1 & 13.2, ELSI 13.1 | BME 13.1 Hemoglobin mixture Excel file Linus Pauling blog, explaining one of first uses of electrophoresis to study hemoglobin |
| 3/14 | How do pathogens affect cells and organisms? How does a Venus flytrap catch its prey? | 13.2; ELSI 13.2; 13.4 | |
| 3/16 | How do muscles respond to
exercise? |
REVIEW 2 handed out 13.3, ELSI 13.3 DUE by Tue 3/20 |
How a muscle contraction is signalled video Video on the details of muscle contraction (Interactive Biology) |
| 3/19 | How do populations of unicellular organisms increase in number? | 14.1, BME 14.1 | BME 14.1 Doubling Excel file |
| 3/21 | How did species with populations of single celled individuals evolve to become multicellular organisms? | 14.2, BME 14.2, BME 14.3 | |
| 3/23 | How do populations of cells in animals affect the whole organism? | 14.3 | |
| 3/26 | What is the difference between stem cells & cancer cells? | 14.4, ELSI 14.1 | |
| 3/28 | Can parasites survive in more than one host species? How do diseases spread? | 15.1, 15.2 | |
| 3/30 | What causes phytoplankton to produce a red tide? | 15.3, ELSI 15.1 | BME 15.1 Logistic-redtide Excel file |
| 4/2 | How are soil microbes involved in nutrient cycling? | 15.4, ELSI 15.2 | |
| 4/4 | What is an individual? | 18.2 | |
| 4/6 | What is the source of emotions? | 18.3, ELSI 18.1 | |
| 4/11 | Does isolation increase the likelihood of extinction? | 19.1, ELSI 19.1 | |
| 4/13 | How does age structure affect population growth? | REVIEW 3 handed out 19.2, ELSI 19.2 | |
| 4/16 | How and why do individuals of some species cooperate with each other? | 19.3 | |
| 4/18 | How does a flock respond to a predator? | 19.4 |
Homing pigeon flight - video of reconstructed flight from research discussed in text Free flight of pigeons - reconstructed video from text research |
| 4/20 | Why did more trees grow when wolves were reintroduced into Yellowstone National Park? | 20.1, BME 20.1, ELSI 20.1 | |
| 4/23 | What determines the outcomes of competition for a resource? | 20.2, BME 20.2 | |
| 4/25 | How efficient are ecological systems at transferring energy from the sun and carbon dioxide from the air to predators? | 20.3 | |
| 4/27 | How does death of an individual affect a population? How does foraging of an individual affect the population? | 24.1, ELSI 24.1, BME 24.1, 24.2 | |
| 4/30 | Are populations regulated through feedback mechanisms? | 24.3, ELSI 24.2, BME 24.2 | |
| 5/2 | How does biomagnification of DDT affect raptor populations? | 24.4, BME 24.3 | |
| 5/4 | Is nutrient cycling a mechanism of homeostasis for ecological systems? | 25.1, ELSI 25.1 | |
| 5/7 | How does energy flow through food webs? Do ecological systems filter wastes like individual organisms do? | 25.2, 25.3, ELSI 25.2 | |
| 5/9 | How does increasing atmospheric carbon dioxide disrupt ecological systems? | REVIEW 4 handed out 25.4, ELSI 25.3 | |
Page last updated August 20, 2012 by CP
© Copyright 2012 Department of Biology, PO Box 7118, Davidson College, Davidson, NC 28035-7118