C A L I F O R N I A I N S T I T U T E O F T E C H N O L O G Y
D i v i s i o n o f B i o l o g y
Bi 11 Organismic Biology 1996
An Introduction to the Diversity, Physiology, and Ecology of Organisms

Tentative schedule: Reading assignments:

Week 1: Oct. 1,3,4 Lectures on evolution and Protozoa
NO laboratory work this week. Ch. 1.8,1.9, 2 .

Week 2: Oct. 8,10,11 Lectures on Protozoa and simple multicellular organisms
Laboratory on Protozoa. Ch. 3, 4 .

Week 3: Oct. 15,17,18 Lectures on lower Metazoa and marine ecology
Laboratory on Coelenterates, Rotifers and Nematodes Ch. 5,6

Week 4: Oct. 22,24,25 Lectures on marine ecology and invertebrates. Ch. 7,8,11

Saturday and Sunday: Field trips to Corona del Mar intertidal. Low tides are -
-0.5 ft., Saturday, Oct. 26, 4:03 PM PDT; -0.5 ft, Sunday, Oct 27, 3:45 PM PST
You should plan to meet at the corner of Ocean Blvd. and Poppy St. in Corona del Mar by 2 PM. Your section GTA will help arrange transportation.

Week 5: Oct 29,31, Nov 1 Lectures by Jim Folsom on plant biology.
Field trips to Huntington Library Gardens

MID-TERM

Week 6: Nov 5,8 Lectures on invertebrates and phylogeny Ch. 9.1-9.5
Laboratory on plankton, filter feeding, cephalopods

Week 7: Nov. 12,14,15 Lectures on adaptations to terrestrial environments
Laboratory on insects Ch. 12.1-12.5, 13.1-13.4

Week 8: Nov. 19,21,22 Lectures on adaptations to terrestrial environments
and comparative physiology. Ch. 14.1-14.3, 15.3,15.4, 16.1-16.4
Laboratory on lower chordates and lower vertebrates

Week 9: Nov. 26 Lecture on comparative physiology
THANKSGIVING HOLIDAYS Ch. 17.1-17.4

Week 10: Dec. 3,5,6 Lectures on alternate life styles
Laboratory on vertebrate structure. Ch. 9.7, 18.1-18.3

Laboratory work
You are expected to complete 6 of the 8 scheduled laboratories. This is intended to allow you some choice as to which laboratories interest you, and to give you some extra time for the assigned reading. However, you are encouraged to complete all 8 laboratories, and as an incentive, the best 6 scores will be used for your final laboratory grade.

There are 2 laboratory sections, meeting Wednesday 1-4 PM, or Thursday 1-4 PM.
TAs for this course are: Jennie Chu, Joanna Jankowsky, Lance Martin, Pauline Ng, and Susan Wang.

Reading assignments
Two texts are assigned for this course. You are encouraged to read them completely, but only selected portions will be actually assigned.

Reading assignments indicated on the schedule are in "Animals" by R. McNeill Alexander.
Most of the Tuesday class sessions will begin with a 10 minute quiz on the preceding week's reading assignment.

Additional assigned reading is "The Diversity of Life" by E. O Wilson, especially Chapters 4 through 10.
You can expect that there will be questions on biodiversity on the midterm and final exams that will relate to the content of this reading assignment.


The final grade will be based on: 25% midterm exam, 25% laboratory, 50% final exam. (The quizes will be incorporated into the midterm or final exam grades.)

A selection of books on Organismic Biology has been set up as the Bi 11 reference collection (non-circulating) on the 8th floor of Millikan. Many of these are also available for overnight check-out from the reserve collection on the 1st floor. This collection is a good place to look if you want more information on topics that are discussed in lecture, but not in the assigned texts.

The text by McNeill Alexander, "Animals", is good for ideas, but weak on illustrations. For more information on what particular animals look like, the following books are especially recommended:
Pearse & Buchsbaum, "Living Invertebrates" QL 362.L58 1986
Brandon, "Life between the Tides" QH 95.7.B72 1985

Copies of these books are in the Bi 11 reference collection on the 8th floor of Millikan and in the reserve collection on the 1st floor.

Also, when you're on the Internet, check out The Tree of Life The Phylogeny of Life