Introductory description

Welcome to the Animal and Plant Biology course.
The course contains 28 lectures and covers major animal and plant body plans and their evolution in deep time. We take you onto a journey of discovery, to see animals and plants from the molecular and cellular 'inside'.

We show you how organisms changes across vast timescales and how we can trace these processes. This is going to be much different from what you have learned in school, so enjoy the ride!

To make the most of this, we encourage you to look at the lectures, films and papers we put on this website before and after the lectures. They are complementary to the lectures themselves and not a substitute for each other.

More details about the module can be found in the module summary and on this website.

Module web page

Module aims

Outline syllabus

This is an indicative module outline only to give an indication of the sort of topics that may be covered. Actual sessions held may differ.

1. Lecture 1: The Tree of life
   Lectures 2 and 3: The dawn of multicellular animals, the Metazoans
   Lectures 4 and 5: The evolution of the Bilaterian body plan. The Lophotrochozoans
   Lecture 6&7 Ecdysozoa
   Lectures 8 - 11 Chordates, Tetrapods, Dinosaurs and Birds
   Lecture 14 - Hominid evolution
   Lecture 15-18: Plant origins
   Lecture 19 Co-evolution in the Anthropocene
   Lecture 20 Extinctions and the Carbon cycle
   Lectures 21-24 - Plant structure-function
   Lectures 25-27 - Plant Development and Reproduction -
   Lectures 28-30: Plant responses to environmental stress

Learning outcomes

By the end of the module, students should be able to:

• By the end of the module the student should be able to:• Understand and describe the methods used in Zoology to define the major groups of Animals.• Understand and describe invertebrate and vertebrate diversity• Understand and describe plant structure and the function of the various components of a plant.

Indicative reading list

Sadava et al Life: The Science of Biology. Freeman 2006

Subject specific skills

By the end of the module the student should be able to:

• Understand and describe the methods used in Zoology to define the major groups of Animals.
• Understand and describe invertebrate and vertebrate diversity
• Understand and describe plant structure and the function of the various components of a plant.

Transferable skills

1. Critical appraisal of source material
2. Self directed learning
3. Adult learning