BZ2460:03
Field Biology and Adaptation
| Townsville | HECS Band 2 |
26 hours lectures, 10 hours tutorials, 18 hours practicals, 18 hours fieldwork. Semester 2.
Staff: Dr L Schwarzkopf.
How do animals and plants solve the problems posed by the environments in which they live? This subject explores the features of organisms that allow them to obtain nutrients, escape predators and mate, focusing on the environmental factors shaping these features; examines environmental influences on animal and plant function in a range of environments including deserts, rainforests and arctic conditions; examines the adaptations of organisms allowing them to cope with such conditions and explores the relationship between environmental conditions and organism performance using a series of field-based experiments to allow students to develop skills required for data collection, analysis and communication of results.
Learning Objectives:
- understand a range of adaptations of organisms and how these are shaped by the environments in which they occur;
- develop skills in field observation and data collection;
- develop skills in computer-assisted manipulation and analysis of data.
Assessment by final examination (55%); lab analyses (15%); practicals (30%).