BIOLOGY 1520
Lecture
Instructors:
Lab Coordinator:
ORGANISMAL BIOLOGY
Mirjana M. Brockett (MMB)
CE323
tel: 404-385-6885
mirjana.brockett@biology.gatech.edu
Cara Gormally
474D Clough
Tel: 404.385.2762
cara.gormally@biology.gatech.edu
SPRING 2013
Joseph P. Montoya (JPM)
EST 1244
tel: 404-385-0479
montoya@gatech.edu
Prerequisites:
Description:
None.
An introduction to biology at the organ and organismal levels, with an emphasis
on physiological processes and integration of growth and development. This
course will foster the development of critical scientific skills including
hypothesis testing, experimental design, data analysis and interpretation, and
scientific communication. Class meets MWF 11:05-11:55 am in Klaus 1443.
Textbook:
Mastering
Biology:
Freeman, S. Biological Science. 2011. 4th edition. Pearson.
The bookstore sells hardcover and looseleaf-bound texts, each bundled with
Mastering Biology (MB) access code. If you plan to work solely with the online e-book within MB (not downloadable), then you can simply purchase MB
access with eText at the bookstore or at the Mastering Biology website.
Mastering Biology consists of required course homework assignments. If you
previously took BIOL 1510 at GT using Campbell & Reece's Biology (8th ed),
you do not have to purchase a new textbook. You can apply for a free access
code to Mastering Biology during the first week of class to access the ebook
version of Freeman. Details will be provided in lecture and on T-square.
Gormally, C, Biology 1520 Lab Manual, Hayden-McNeill 2012.
A TurningPoint ResponseCard NXT unit ("clicker") is required and will be
used for quizzes and interactive lecture sessions, which will contribute to the
Participation portion of your course grade. This course is not set up to use the
TurningPoint laptop or mobile device instead of a clicker.
All students are expected to abide by the Academic Honor Code, which can be
viewed online at http://www.honor.gatech.edu. We take the Honor Code very
seriously and are required to report any potential violations. Some specific
examples of Honor Code violations that we’ve encountered include: copying
during exams, use of another student’s clicker in class, and plagiarism.
If needed, we will make classroom accommodations for students with
disabilities. These accommodations must be arranged in advance through the
ADAPTS office (http://www.adapts.gatech.edu).
Lectures are held in Klaus 1443. Attendance in lecture correlates strongly with
performance in Biology 1520. We will make lecture slides available via TSquare and urge you to download and print them for use in taking notes during
lecture. The lectures and readings are complementary and some material will
be presented only in lecture. Lecture exams will be based on topics, materials,
and discussions presented in class and in the assigned readings. Phone and
computer use are not permitted during class. We expect you to review each
reading assignment before and after class for full comprehension of material.
Lab Manual:
Clickers:
Honor Code:
Learning
Accomodations:
Lectures:
p. 1
BIOLOGY 1520
Group Projects:
Labs:
Homework:
Lecture Exams:
Missed Exams:
Recitation:
Bonus Points:
ORGANISMAL BIOLOGY
SPRING 2013
Every student will take part in one group project during the semester. You may
organize yourselves into groups of six students, and students not belonging to
such a group will be assigned to a group at random. Your project involves the
production of a powerpoint presentation and video recording of the
presentation. Additional details will be provided in class and via T-Square.
Labs are held in Clough 473. Note that labs do not start during the first
week of classes. Laboratory attendance is mandatory and each unexcused
absence will lower your final grade by 5%. For more information about lab,
please read the lab syllabus on the lab T-square site.
Mastering Biology offers animations, videos, interactive tutorials and
simulations, as well as practice quizzes and an on-line version of the textbook.
Individual access codes for Mastering Biology are included with each new
textbook, or may be purchased separately from the publisher at
masteringbio.com. Regular assignments are associated with each major topic in
the course and will be due each week, including the final week of the semester.
Midterm exams will be held Thursday evenings in Klaus 1443 (see schedule).
Exams will contain multiple choice questions and may include a mix of
multiple choice and short answer questions.
If you miss an exam for any reason, you will receive a grade of 0 (zero) on that
exam unless you petition us for a makeup exam within 24 h of the start of the
missed exam, and we approve your petition. Your petition must be submitted
in writing and must include documentation of a legitimate reason for missing
the exam. You may submit your petition before the exam if you know of your
scheduling conflict in advance. Examples of legitimate reasons to miss an
exam include illness, illness or death in your immediate family, and
participation in official university activities.
If we approve your petition, we will remove the missed exam from your grade
calculation by using the weighted mean of your other exam scores as your
grade for the missed exam, making it completely neutral in your final point
total. You may also petition for a makeup exam. If we approve a makeup
exam, we will administer it before the end of the term.
The graduate TA will lead a recitation each Thursday 6:05-6:55 pm when we
do not have an exam scheduled that day. This is an opportunity for you to
discuss lecture material and text readings with the TA. Recitation attendance is
strongly correlated with exam performance.
You have the opportunity to earn bonus points which (if earned) will be added
to your midterm exam grades. You may attempt to earn up to four bonus points
for each module exam. There are no bonus point opportunities for the final
exam.
Podcasts: We will post several podcasts on T-square that are relevant to each
module. You may select one, listen to it, and write a one-page paper,
according to one of the following formats:
Opinion piece: describe and justify whether you agree with the podcast
Critical review: critique the podcast with factual support
Popular summary: Summarize for a lay audience unfamiliar with biology
p. 2
BIOLOGY 1520
Grading:
ORGANISMAL BIOLOGY
SPRING 2013
Field trips: You may visit one of the following science-related museums, at
your own expense, and write a one-page summary to describe what you
learned to someone who has not attended. Attach your admission receipt. You
may only visit each museum once for potential bonus points.
Atlanta Botanical Garden www.atlantabotanicalgarden.org
Georgia Aquarium www.georgiaaquarium.org
Zoo Atlanta www.zooatlanta.org
Fernbank Museum of Natural History www.fernbankmuseum.org
Fernbank Science Center www.fernbank.edu
Spelling, grammar, punctuation, and style all count toward the determination of
bonus points earned for each attempt
Your final grade will depend on the following combination of grades:
In-class exams (10% each):
40%
Final exam (Module 5 and cumulative):
20%
Group project (1):
10%
Mastering Biology:
5%
Participation (clicker, in-class activities, etc.):
5%
Laboratory:
25%
Note that these components total 105%. The maximum overall score we will
allow in this course is 100%, so this scheme includes 5% of extra credit.
We will use the following procedure in calculating your final grade:
1. We will combine your exam, lab, participation, and group activity scores
into a raw composite score (0 – 100%) using the weights shown above.
2. We will use the mean score earned by the top 5% of the class as a gauge
of real student performance in the class.
3. We will normalize your score to actual student performance by dividing
your raw composite score by the mean score earned by the top 5% of the
class. If you’re in the top 2.5% of the class, your score will be 100%.
4. We will assign final letter grades based on normalized scores using the
following scale:
A: ≥ 90%
B: ≥ 80% and < 90%
C: ≥ 70% and < 80%
D: ≥ 60% and < 70%
F: < 60%
p. 3
BIOLOGY 1520
ORGANISMAL BIOLOGY
Biology 1520 Module Themes and Teaching Goals
Module Major theme
Teaching Goals
1
• Biodiversity
• Evolutionary history of life on Earth
• Metabolic diversity
• Biological diversity
2
• Growth and
Reproduction
3
• Chemical and
Electrical Signals
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
4
• Nutrition and
Transport
• Metabolic diversity
• Nutrient acquisition
• Circulatory systems (plant and animal)
5
• Materials Balance
• Gas exchange
• Water, ion, and mass exchange
• Homeostasis
Differentiation
Sexual and asexual reproduction
Reproductive strategies
Hormones
Neurons and integration
Sensory systems
Motility
p. 4
SPRING 2013
BIOLOGY 1520
Spring 2013
7-Jan
=> M1
9-Jan
ORGANISMAL BIOLOGY
SPRING 2013
Lecture Topics (tentative)
Freeman 4 Reading
Campbell 8 Reading
Course overview
Review Bioskills 3
(Appendix)
Review 26: 538, 542548
Review 25: 507-510
27: 479-484
25: 510-519
Earliest signs of life
29: 526-528, 530-532
27: 556-560, 564-567
Prokaryotes as ancient architects
31: 595
28: 575-579
27: 482-483, 484-489
25: 515, 518, 521-523
Cambrian explosion
30: 549-555
32:654-664
Evolutionary innovations in fishes
34: 650-656
34: 698-710
Evolution of early land plants
33: 639-643
29: 600-610
End-Ordovician extinction
31: 596
33: 684-692
Module 1: Biodiversity
Beginnings of Life on Earth
Evolution of early animals
11-Jan
14-Jan
16-Jan
Early Paleozoic (Cambrian - Silurian)
Additional land dwellers: arthropods,
Glomeromycetes
Late Paleozoic (Devonian - Permian)
31: 642
27: 482-483, 489
25: 519-525
Ancestry of tetrapods
30: 556-561
34: 710-715
Evolution of land plants
34: 656-661
29: 610-615
End-Devonian extinction, Carboniferous
fossil bed
Additional land dwellers: winged insects,
Ascomycetes, & Basidiomycetes
End-Permian extinction
31: 596-597
30: 618-625
33: 640-641
33: 690-691
Mesozoic Era
Life on land: reptiles, early mammals
31: 642
27: 482-483, 490-492
34: 715-721
30: 560-565
30: 625-632
34: 665-666
34: 722-727
pdf TBA
pdf TBA
28: 496-512
27: 556-560, 565-573
Ancestry of angiosperms
End-Triassic and End-Cretaceous extinctions
18-Jan
Cenozoic Era
Mammals diversify
Grasslands appear
Climate variability
21-Jan
23-Jan
No class - MLK holiday
Modern Prokaryotes
Breadth of morphology, metabolism,
habitats, roles in medicine &
bioremediation
Modern techniques in studying prokaryotes
Lineage diversity
25-Jan
Modern Eukaryotes: Lineage Diversity
29: 519-525, 528-537
28: 575-579, 596-597
Major lineages
30: 554
Diversity in life cycles
31: 582-584
28: 583-595 life cycles
only
35: 745
Metabolic diversity and ecosystem services
31: 637-638
Structural diversity of protists
Structural diversity in plants, fungi, animals
p. 5
BIOLOGY 1520
Spring 2013
28-Jan
ORGANISMAL BIOLOGY
SPRING 2013
Lecture Topics (tentative)
Freeman 4 Reading
Campbell 8 Reading
Modern Eukaryotes: Multicellularity
29: 525
28: 578
Major lineages
30: 546-549, 562-564
30: 630-634
Plant-pollinator coevolutionary forces
31: 580-581, 586-590
31: 648-652
Ecosystem services by plants & fungi
32: 610-617, 623-630, 637
32: 658-661
Morphological and metabolic innovations
33: 646-649, 660
32: 663
Animal phylogeny: 4 major groups
30-Jan
31-Jan
=> M2
Group Activity Session
Exam 1
Module 1
Module 2: Growth and Reproduction
1-Feb
Intro to reproduction and development
Differentiation, colony formation, growth
Ch 21
4-Feb
Plant Development
Ch 23
6-Feb
Alternation of generations
28: 587-588
40: 852-860
33:671-673
29:602-603
35: 738-761
29: 533-536
Tissue development, differentiation and
function
Role of meristems, secondary growth
8-Feb
11-Feb
Animal Development
Cleavage patterns, polarity, differentiation
Coelom formation and body plans
Ch 22
32:604-607
32: 655
47: 1021-1044
13-Feb
Plant Reproduction
Double fertilization, seeds, fruits
557-558
30:560-565
29: 602-603
30: 618-634
40: 783-801
38: 801-814
Vegetative growth
15-Feb
Animal Reproduction
48: 950-956
Asexual reproduction (budding and
parthenogenesis)
Gametogenesis, hermaphroditism
18-Feb
32: 615-617
Human Reproduction
48: 957-971
33:671-673
46: 997-1003
46: 1003-1018
Spermatogenesis, oogenesis
Ovarian and uterine cycles
20-Feb
Group Activity Session
21-Feb
Exam 2
=> M3
22-Feb
22-Feb
25-Feb
Module 2
Module 3: Chemical and Electrical Signals
Intro to chem signaling and signal transduction
Quorum sensing, biofilm formation in
microbes
Plant Hormones and Defenses
Hormones controlling growth, dormancy,
germination
Responses to injury, chemical defenses.
p. 6
8: 139-146
11: 206-207
51: 1125
39: 755-781
39: 821-847
BIOLOGY 1520
Spring 2013
27-Feb
1-Mar
ORGANISMAL BIOLOGY
SPRING 2013
Lecture Topics (tentative)
Freeman 4 Reading
Campbell 8 Reading
Animal Hormones
47: 929-947
45: 975-994
Hormone effects, production, distribution
43: 856:858
Insect development
Vertebrate endocrine system
4-Mar
6-Mar
8-Mar
11-Mar
Neurons and Nervous System I
Nervous System II: Anatomy and function
Ion channels, synapses, neurotransmitters,
integration
Sensory Systems
Sensory cells & organs, specificity
Mechano- and photoreception
45: 885-889
45: 899-904
48: 1047-1061
49: 1064-1080
46: 907-920
50: 1087-1105
7: 123-128
46: 920-926
6: 114-118
50: 1105-1117
Information processing
13-Mar
15-Mar
Effectors
Movement: role of cilia, flagella, muscles,
skeletons
Group Activity Session
14-Mar
Exam 3
18-22 Mar
=> M4
25-Mar
27-Mar
29-Mar
1-Apr
3-Apr
Module 3
Spring Break
Module 4: Nutrition and Transport
Nutrition - Adaptations & needs
Autotrophy, heterotrophy, mixotrophy
Microbial role in nutrition
Nutrition - Acquisition of nutrients
Soil processes, N2-fixation
Digestive organs: structure and function
Plant transport processes
38: 737-740, 750-752
43: 841-844
38: 741-750
43: 845-855
37:785-792
41: 875-880
41: 891-896
37: 792-798
41: 880-890
37: 717-735
36: 764-782
44: 874-883
42: 898-915
Uptake of water and minerals
Xylem and evapotranspiration
Phloem, sieve tubes, and translocation
5-Apr
8-Apr
10-Apr
Animal circulation
Evolution of circulatory systems
Human vascular system, hormonal
regulation
Group Activity Session
11-Apr
Exam 4
Module 4
p. 7
BIOLOGY 1520
ORGANISMAL BIOLOGY
Spring 2013
Lecture Topics (tentative)
=> M5
Module 5: Materials Balance
12-Apr
15-Apr
Gas Exchange and Transport
SPRING 2013
Freeman 4 Reading
Campbell 8 Reading
44: 861-883
42: 915-927
42: 822-838
44: 954-972
10: 187-190
10: 198-203
Principles of diffusion
Lungs and gills
Mechanisms for transporting O2 and CO2
17-Apr
19-Apr
Ion and water balance in animals
Excretory mechanisms and systems
Adaptations to different environments
22-Apr
24-Apr
26-Apr
Plant homeostasis and responses to the
environment
Photosynthetic strategies and water
conservation
Light, water, temperature, wounds,
pathogens
Animal homeostasis and responses to the
environment
37: 720-721
39: 758-759, 762-764, 776781
41: 815-819
36: 776-779
39: 835-847
40: 860-868
3-May
Final Exam, 8 am - 10:50 am
Comprehensive
p. 8