Course Details

Course Description
This course introduces the numerous invertebrate phyla providing a description of the features that characterize each phylum. The covers all the invertebrate phyla looking at their diverse forms, functions, and evolutionary relationships. The book first introduces evolution and modern methods of tracing it, then describes the distinctive body plan of each invertebrate phylum, showing what has evolved, how the animals live, and how they develop. Basic physiological mechanisms and their development are discussed. Development both the ontogeny and phylogeny of the invertebrates is discussed as well as how genes control and direct an animal's development. The final chapter explains uses of molecular evidence and presents an up-to-date view of the evolutionary history, giving a more certain definition of the relationships between invertebrates. For those interested in biology, this course offers a lucid, yet comprehensive, introduction to a significant proportion of the diversity of life on Earth. Prerequisite: a Basic Biology or Zoology course

Goals
a. Learn about evolution, natural selection, genetic variation and the role chance plays in evolution.
b. Learn how animals are classified, and the methods used to trace phylogeny.
c. Learn the basic features and characteristic of the invertebrate phyla.
d. Learn how animals develop, what makes different animals develop differently, and the relationships between regeneration and development.
e. Learn how genes regulate development and how the How genes work.
f. Learn how evolution can be traced and the latest understanding of the invertebrate evolutionary history.

Course Contents
a. The Process of Evolution: Natural Selection.
b. The Pattern of Evolution: Methods of Investigation
c. Porifera
d. Cnidaria
e. On Being a Worm
f. Platyhelminthes and Acoelomorpha
g. Nemertea
h. Nematoda
i. Annelida
j. Mollusca: General and Gastropoda, Bivalvia, and Cephalopoda
k. Arthropoda: General and Crustacea, Chelicerata, Myriapoda, and Insecta
l. Animals with Lophophores
m. Echinodermata
n. Invertebrate Chordata and Hemichordata
o. Development
p. Invertebrate Evolutionary History

This course is applicable towards the following certificate(s):
*Basic Biology for the Classroom

Visit our Certificates page for more information.

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