BIOEE 4660 - Physiological Ecology, Lectures

(BIO-AS) (OPHLS-AG)

Spring. 3 credits. Student option grading.

Prerequisite: BIOEE 1610, BIOG 1440, BIOAP 3110 or permission of instructor.

M. Vitousek.

Detailed survey of how physiological processes help organisms meet the challenges of their environment. Lectures explore physiological adaptation, thermal biology, respiration and oxygen transport, resource acquisition and allocation, water use and limitation, energetics and nutrition, hormones, stress physiology, and developmental physiology. Readings draw from the primary literature and textbooks.

Outcome 1: Describe how key environmental factors, including temperature, water, and nutrient availability, affect physiological function.

Outcome 2: Recognize physiological adaptation to the environment in animals.

Outcome 3: Describe the physiological stress response, and how it differs across environments.

Outcome 4: Evaluate physiological adaptations to life history strategies.

Outcome 5: Read, evaluate, and present relevant papers from the primary literature.

Outcome 6: Independently plan and present physiological ecological experiments.