Students collecting data for a field course at Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute’s Punta Galeta Marine Laboratory, Panamá.
Students collecting data for Marine Ecology in Half Moon Bay.
Marine Ecology & Biology (BIOL 161)
Offered during spring semesters, this 4 unit lecture/lab course focuses on the ecological processes that determine the structure and diversity of life in the sea. Through field trips and field work, data collection and analysis, discussion and lecture, this course examines aspects of the marine environment that make its ecology different from that on land, and consider how studies in marine systems have led to ecological principles that apply across ecosystems.
Sea stars, barnacles, and mussels in the rocky intertidal zone.
InverteBrate Zoology (Zool 115)
Offered during fall semesters, this 4 unit lecture/lab course focuses on the origin, diversification, and extinction of major animal groups. The course considers two related questions: 1) What are the features of each of the major groups of multicellular animals? 2) How did they get that way? To answer these questions, students become experts in three key concepts around which this course is built: form, function, and phylogeny.