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Biology 106, Quantitative Methods
in Biology Description: An introduction to mathematical and statistical methods that are
most useful to biologists, this course provides skills that are useful in
organizing and summarizing data, graphic methods of data presentation, and
testing hypotheses based on experimental results. Key mathematical methods
for describing biological phenomena are included, along with basic techniques
for identifying differences among groups and relationships among variables.
This course may be used by biology majors to fulfill part of their mathematics
requirement; alternatively, it may be counted among the required ten biology
courses for the major. Prerequisites: Biology 101, Biology 102, and one
semester of calculus (Mathematics 120 or 124). Offered every year Biology 216, Ecology Normally taught in the spring semester of each year Description: Provides an overview of ecology as a scientific discipline. The primary emphasis is on efforts to explain and predict the distribution and abundance of organisms, how ecological communities are composed, and why they vary in time and space. Prerequisites: one or more courses from organismal biology group and one college-level math course. Biology 201, Ecology of Atlantic Shores Co-taught with Pr. Deborah Robertson, this course emphasizes methods for analyzing features of marine populations, adaptations to physical conditions, and interactions among marine intertidal organisms. The course takes field trips to rocky shoreline habitat in New England, and a week-long trip to Bermuda. Ecology (216) or Marine Biology (109) are highly recommended. A laboratory fee to cover the costs of transportation and lodging in Bermuda is required. For our most recent trip, this cost was $1400. Atlantic Shores web site, including student projectsBiology 216, Ecology Normally taught in the spring semester of each year Description: Provides an overview of ecology as a scientific discipline. The primary emphasis is on efforts to explain and predict the distribution and abundance of organisms, how ecological communities are composed, and why they vary in time and space. Prerequisites: one or more courses from organismal biology group and one college-level math course. Biology 217/317 Ecology of Infectious Disease/Seminar Taught semiannually. Explores the relationship between infectious disease agents and their hosts, and how that interaction can effect changes in the abundance of host and pathogen populations. Factors that contribute to the occurrence and persistence of epidemics, the evolution of virulence and transmission, and strategies for controlling epidemics will be considered using theoretical approaches and case studies of diseases affecting humans and other hosts. A wide spectrum of human diseases will be considered, including human pathogens of recent concern (examples include HIV, Lyme Disease, West Nile Virus) and of historic and continuing importance (e.g., schistosomiasis, bubonic plague, malaria, smallpox, yellow fever). Prerequisites: Biology 216, or Biology 220. Offered periodically View student poster on bubonic plague Biology 220, Population Biology Normally taught in the fall semester, every two or three years. Description: Examines the properties that exist only at the population level, including schedules for birth and death, population growth patterns, spatial variation in abundance, genetic variation, and the factors that modify these features over time. Prerequisites: Biology 118, 216, or permission of instructor. Biology 224, Ecology of Disease VectorsTaught every other year, this course considers the factors that affect the success or failure of organisms that transmit diseases from host to host, as well as the factors that make them effective disease vectors. Emphasis is on vectors that transmit human disease, especially mosquitoes. The course studies invasions of mosquitoes in progress in North America and Bermuda, and includes a week long field trip to Bermuda, as well as field trips to mosquito habitats in southern New England. A lab fee to cover travel expenses is required. The cost for 2007 is $1500. Course web site (note to students: please let me know if you would register for a course-- I will teach them by popular demand). Biology 99, Invasion and Extinction Seminar on aspects of populations and their environments that contribute to outbreaks and range expansions, as well as rarity and extinction. No prerequisites. Originally taught as a first-year seminar, this course may appear in modified form for biology majors in the future. Biology 222, Community Ecology Description: Factors affecting the biological structure of natural
communities are examined, with close attention to field experiments on competition
and predation. Prerequisites: Biology 101, 102, and permission of instructor. Biology 280/380, Biometry and Experimental Design Description: A tutorially-taught course for students engaged in research projects, this course emphasizes the design of experiments and the formal analysis of empirical data.
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