ONLINE LESSONS

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Foundations: Science, systematics, evolution, and the diversity of life

· What is science?

· Biological systematics: a historical perspective

· What is a species? (The species problem)

· Evolution: the integrating theory of life

· Speciation

· Evolutionary trees: A primer (from Understanding Evolution)

· Molecular clocks (from Understanding Evolution)

· Genetic phylogeny and molecular clocks

· Population genetics

· Diversity of life: prokaryotes

· Diversity of life: multicellularity

Atoms to cells

· Atoms

· Chemical Bonds

· Water: the medium of life

· Carbon: the backbone of life

· Biomolecules

· Cells

· Abiogenesis

Principles of cellular metabolism

· Energy

· Enzymes

· ATP

· Poisons, toxins, and drugs: biochemical shenanigans of doom

· Molecules, energy, and cellular fire: introduction to cellular respiration

· Glycolysis

· Cellular respiration

· Photosynthesis

Cell signaling and gene expression

· Cellular communication

· Gene expression

· Regulation of gene expression

The blueprint of life: genomes

· Genomes

Principles of reproduction and development

· DNA replication

· Mitosis

· Meiosis

· Sex

· Factors complicating Mendelian genetics

· Genetic program of development

· Viruses: using cellular machinery to propagate non-cells

Biotechnology

· The biotech toolbox

Organismal challenges: water, food, and the colonization of land

· Life on land vs sea

· Principles of biological transport

· Water loss and the rubisco problem: C₃, C₄, and CAM plants

· Animal digestion

· Animal waste management and water balance

· Animal circulation and respiration

Organismal challenges: sensing and responding to the environment

· Plant sensing

· Animal sensing

· Nervous systems

· Neuron triggering

Organismal challenges: reproduction and development

· Plant reproduction

· Sex in animals

· Animal mating behavior

· Animal development

Organismal challenges: environmental constraints (populations, communities, and ecosystems)

· Introduction to populations

· Population growth

· Estimating population size: the mark-recapture technique

· Social living

· Species interactions

· Plant defense and symbiosis

· The human microbiome

· The animal immune system

· Biological communities: trophic structure

· Community change through time

· Climate and life

· Ecology

Statistics

· Introduction to statistics

Marine Science

· A brief history of ocean exploration

· Challenges of marine science

· Challenges of ocean navigation

· Mapping the world

· The lat/lon system

· Ocean zones

· Marine geology

· Thermohaline circulation

· Ekman transport and upwelling

· Ocean gyres

· Climate part 1: Insolation and general heat distribution patterns

· Climate part 2: The effect of planetary rotation

· Climate part 3: Other climate effects

· The biological Pump

· The iron hypothesis

· Stable isotope fingerprints: isotope paleoproxies

· Challenges facing the ocean

· The buffering system of the ocean

· The ocean and the CO₂ problem

· In situ ocean observation

· Life in the sea

· Pelagic communities

· Benthic communities

Safety Training

· TA lab safety training