Overview

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Academic contacts

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Offerings

MURDOCH-S1-EXT-2018-ONGOING
MURDOCH-S1-INT-2018-ONGOING

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Other learning activities

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Learning activities

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Learning outcomes

1.
Explain the role of hypothesis, replication and control treatments in experimental design and illustrate your understanding by either (i) designing simple experiments of your own, or (ii) providing an intelligent critique of an example of an experimental design.
2.
Outline the major tenets of the cell theory and the theory of evolution and explain how these theories unify modern biology.
3.
Describe the main features of marine, inland aquatic and terrestrial environments and give examples of animals and plants that are adapted to each.
4.
Outline the main features of conservation biology as a sub-discipline of environmental biology and present a rationale for the conservation of the wild living resources of the earth.
5.
Observe biological specimens using both compound and dissecting microscopes.
6.
Identify organisms using simple dichotomous keys and design simple keys of your own.
7.
Write clear, concise reports on your laboratory and field work that follow standard biological conventions, especially referencing.
8.
Access primary sources of biological information using electronic references and journal databases.
9.
Demonstrate responsibility for your own planning and organisation by submitting work on time.

Assessments

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Additional information

Unit content:The unit is organised into five broad themes: Theme 1 What is Environmental Biology? · The characteristics of the human species · Human impacts on the biota of the earth. Theme 2 The Scientific Method and the Unifying Theories of Modern Biology · Hypothesis testing in modern science · The cell theory · The theory of evolution Theme 3 Applying Scientific Method – Classifying Biodiversity · Principles of biological classification · The major phyla of prokaryotes, fungi, animals and plants Theme 4 Applying Scientific Method – Biodiversity and the Environment · Population Ecology · Community Ecology · Marine Environments · Aquatic Inland Environments · Terrestrial Environments Theme 5 The Future Conservation biology