DB 202 (AUG) 2:0
General Biology
Syllabus
Biology and the natural sciences
Growth of biological thought
Matter and life
Origin of life
History of life on earth
Bacteria and Protists
Fungi and other primitive plants
Seed bearing plants
Animals without backbones
Insects, Vertebrates, Phylogeny and Systematics
Mechanisms of Evolution
Chemical basis of life
Cellular basis of life
Selected topics in plant and animal physiology
Selected topics in plant and animal ecology
Selected topics in sensory biology and neurobiology
Behavioral ecology and sociobiology
Biological diversity on earth
Complexity
Molecular versus Organismal approaches to solving problems in Science
Recommended readings
Peter Medawar (1984). Pluto’s Republic: Incorporating The Art of the Soluble and Induction and Intuition in Scientific Thought
D’Arcy Wentworth Thompson (1942). On Growth and Form (Edited and Abridged by John Tyler Bonner, 1992)
EC 302 (AUG) 2:1
Plant-Animal Interactions
Ecology, Behaviour and Evolution
Syllabus
The sensory biology of the interaction between plants, their animal mutualists and parasites: vision, chemoreception, olfaction and multimodal signalling
Energetics of plant–animal interactions
Nectar, floral and vegetative scents and pollen chemistry
Stable isotopes in the study of plant–animal interactions
Mate choice in plants
Evolution of floral and fruit traits
Phenotypic plasticity and inducible defenses in plants
Behavioural and physiological processes in generalist and specialist herbivores, pollinators and seed dispersers
Co-evolutionary dynamics of symbiosis, mutualisms and arms races
Recommended readings
Chittka, L. and Thompson, J. D. (Eds.), Cognitive Ecology of Pollination — Animal Behaviour and Floral Evolution. Cambridge University Press, 2001.
D’Arcy Wentworth Thompson (1942). On Growth and Form (Edited and Abridged by John Tyler Bonner, 1992)