Welcome to Principles of Biology
(my CSM colleagues are welcome to direct students to this page or
to create links to specific resources on it. —Michael Bucher)
A course engaging the ideas and methods of the science of life.
In this class we begin by considering what life is and how we can know what we know about it. We will look at:
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the unity of doing that all life forms share:
taking in energy and using it to respond to stimuli, to grow, to reproduce, to adapt and--as a population-- to change over time; -
the problems of living on this planet and how a diversity of organisms meet those problems;
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some shared patterns of problem-solving; and
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the unifying principle of evolution by natural selection as a satisfying explanation of how living beings have arrived at such unity and diversity.
Downloads
Initial Downloads The ones you'll need to start the semester are the Syllabus and Calendar.
Online Lab Manual Files to download and print the week before each lab are in the middle column. The right column contains supplementary materials of some interest or usefulness.
Other useful items Other stuff you might find valuable.
Study Guides (for Fall 2007; Spring 2008 may differ.)
Field Trip Downloads One or more of these may be required, optional, with or without extra credit. Ask.
Basic Logistical Files (Initial Downloads)
Download the pdf file of the syllabus.
Download the pdf file of the Lecture, Reading and Exam Calendar.
Other useful items
Download the pdf file of "How to Create a Great Poster."
How to Take Perfect Notes Reformatted from an entry at WikiHow to print on a single page.
Download the pdf file of the Concept Map handout. You can download a trial copy of Inspiration from www.inspiration.com and install it (versions for Macintosh and Winblows are available) and make your own concepts maps
Video Report (as a PDF) A format to use in writing a report on an approved video program. Should be written shortly after viewing with notes taken during the program and submitted soon after. Limits on number of reports and timelines will apply.Video Report as a Microsaft Word doc.
If you don't have a copy of the Acrobat Reader, get one; it is free. 
Biology 110 Lab Manual Online
The following files mostly in PDF format may be supplemented or updated during the semester. Students should download and print them before coming to lab. A week before is probably soon enough; downloads made at the beginning of the semester may not include the latest improvements. It is possible that not all of these labs will fit into the semester anyway.
A "bound" lab notebook (one with sewn-in pages) is also required. Each student is responsible for having that notebook and a copy of the assigned exercise in hand when arriving for each week's lab.
| Week | Content subject | Required files | Other Vital Files/Links |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Introduction (no lab) |
How to Take Perfect Notes Lab Notebooks contains words about your own "Q-Document," bound volume that contains your original dated observations, thoughts, measurements, hypotheses, predictions and tentative conclusions. |
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| 2 |
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Link to a Java view of powers of 10 and a glimpse of our place in the universe. Spanish flu http://historymatters.gmu.edu/d/14 |
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| 3 |   Dealing with Data |
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sstutorial.xls For beginners and seasoned users alike. Absolut Ads Illustrates use of absolute addresses and takes apart the calculation of standard deviation. Biometrics provides a start in forensic anthropology. S08Biometrics combines data from Mon. & Wed. labs. |
| 4 |
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The classic essay by J.B.S. Haldane on issues of size and scaling. Does Size Matter? examines the effect of size on the rate of diffusion of salt from blocks of agar. |
| 5 |
No lab (Decider's Day) |
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Street Biology Energy Chapter: an extra credit opportunity, comparing a chapter from an unpublished biology text with the current text's Chapters 5 & 6. |
| 6 |
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| 7 |  Nutrition & Monomers |
Nutrient values in a spreadsheet from CSUN |
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| 8 |  |
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| 9 |
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Practice logical deduction and induction and skill in using Punnet squares and pedigrees for problem solving. |
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| 10 |
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The Virtual Genetics Lab software is loaded on lab laptops already. For addition practice at home download your own copy of VGL. VGL 1.4.2 Here are the CSM VGL practice problems: (This is a compressed Zip file of a folder containing: 01autoCodom.prb; 01autoSimple.prb; 01XYcodom.prb; 01XYsimple.prb; 01ZWcodom.prb; 01ZWsimple.prb; 03autosomal.prb; 02SexLinkCodom.prb; 02SexLinkSimple.prb; 03Codom.prb; 03sexLinked.prb; 03simpleDom.prb; 04ChallengeSet.prb.) That folder (once decompressed) is named "Problems" and should replace the one downloaded with VGL 1.4.2; alternatively the files named above could be added to those with names like "level01" in the Problems folder that came with VGL. |
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| 11 | Genetics continued |
VGL Solutions |
http://intro.bio.umb.edu/GX/ Link to download Gene Explorer, a simulation of transcription, translation and mutation. ExploreGE guides you through the exploration of Gene Exploration. |
| 12 |
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To change allele frequency is to Evolve introduces population genetics and simulation software called Evolve to be demonstrated by the intructor. Evolve3.0.7.6, lets you manipulate parameters of Hardy-Weinberg Genetics and do "what if" evolutionary experiments. The manual developed for version 2 might be helpful as well. |
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| 13 |
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What's "Intelligent Design?" Is it just creationism masquerading as science? Watch the Nova episode on-line http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/id/program.html and earn extra credit with a Video Report. ESTEEM module: EvolSeq |
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| 14 |
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Mammal Supertree |
| 15 |
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http://www.saltwatertides.com |
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| 16 |
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| 17 |
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Island Biogeography.xls |
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Your first assignment:
Send me an e-mail message (to 
)
that includes the 3-digit course number (110) and your real name in the Subject
line and tell me what you intend to accomplish this semester and what you
see as the barriers, if any, to reaching your goals.
Don't have an e-mail account?
If you don't have your own e-mail account but do have access to an Internet browser (Safari, Netscape Navigator, AOL, Firefox, etc.), you can get a free account from a variety of different sources. Most of the "free" e-mail accounts come at the cost of viewing ads on the same page where you read and write e-mail messages. They may also add a tag line to your outgoing messages inviting others to sign up for a free account with them.
| 1. |
they are not dependent on your being at your own computer, so you could pick up your mail anywhere you could get on-line (e.g. a library in a city you are visiting); |
| 2. |
they aren't dependent on your keeping the same job, school affiliation, or Internet Service Provider; |
| 3. |
they are easily abandoned if you happen to get on a "spam" list and start receiving a lot of unwanted e-mail at that address. |
Some possibilities, assuming you already have Internet access:
gmail.com This one had been by invitation only. If an invitation is still needed, ask me. Google's Gmail provides lots of storage area; you could attach a written assignment or pictures to an e-mail message to yourself as a way of having a backup copy you could download from anywhere.
Yahoo Mail Yahoo has also expanded its storage capacity
Hotmail (Caveat emptor: now owned by Microsoft)
evolutionmap.pdf organizes some of the terminology in the Study Guide on evolution into a Mind Map or Concept map. The map was created using a computer application called Inspiration. You may print out the map, then expand it or simply add your own handwritten notes as part of your preparation. OR you can download a trial copy of Inspiration from www.inspiration.com and install it (versions for Macintosh and Winblows are available) and make your own. In either case it is not an authorized crib sheet.
Industrial
Melanism The Case of Industrial Melanism deconstructs a classic experiment
and evidence for natural selection in accounts of Pepper Moths. This is one
of several case studies to be found elsewhere on this web site.
"On
Being the Right Size" The classic essay by J.B.S. Haldane on issues
of size and scaling. An interesting read if you've ever wondered about the
feasibility of a real 25-foot gorilla like the fictional King Kong.
Field Trip Info
Academy of Science Files (the California Academy of Sciences closed for demolition and reconstruction. It has opened in another temporary location south of Market. The following files are only partially relevant to the limited exhibits in the new location.
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California Academy of Science field trip Field trip assignments for the Life Through Time exhibit (cannot be done in the CAS temporary location) and "Adaptations for Locomotion" at C.A.S. (can be done using the aquarium specimens in the temporary quarters of the C.A.S. or the animals of the S.F. Zoo--both with free admission on the first Wednesday of each month.
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Assignment
Skulls Field trip assignment to Skulls Exhibit at Cal Academy of Science;
also download "On Being the Right Size" below. The Skulls Exhibit
is present in the CAS temporary location "south of Market."
Littoral Meaning Field trip directions and map to Princeton Harbor and
tidepool area. We may be able to schedule a field trip to tidepools along our coast since the best ones in the fall occur in the late afternoon. You may choose to design your own field trip as an extra credit project, but must plan well ahead and submit a proposal early enough for me to provide guidance and approval.
Tidepool Field Trip Field trip directions and map to Bean Hollow State
Beach and its tidepool area.
Farmers' Market Field trip to explore local edible members of Kingdom
Plantae. This one is best done twice: once early in the semester and once
near the end so that a seasonal comparison can be included in the second write-up.
The "market table" can be used to organize
your survey and comparison, but should not be considered as an adequate extra-credit-worthy
format for your final report.
