ANIMAL BIOLOGY
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- Versione italiana
- Academic year
- 2022/2023
- Teacher
- TYRONE LUCON XICCATO
- Credits
- 6
- Didactic period
- Secondo Semestre
- SSD
- BIO/05
Training objectives
- The main objective of the course is to provide students with information basic to the understanding of complex biological systems; their interconnections in the maintenance of vital functions and the interaction between the internal and external environment of the organism.
Main knowledge gained:
- the animal body plans;
- sexual and asexual reproduction;
- developmental mechanisms;
- main vital functions;
- diversity of the nervous system;
- main animal phyla.
Main skills (the ability to apply knowledge acquired):
- capacity to search for and understand novel information on zoology;
- ability to integrate the functions of the organ acquired knowledge in other disciplines;
- application of zoological knowledge in the context of biotechnology;
- to identify the main animal groups. Prerequisites
- Basic knowledge in general biology.
Course programme
- - Animal body architecture: body plans, symmetry, coelom (2 h).
- Sexual and asexual reproduction, hermaphroditism, parthenogenesis, reproductive behaviour, life cycles (8 h).
- Development: fertilisation, segmentation, gastrulation, organogenesis (6 h).
- Locomotion, protection, and support: muscles, skeleton and tegument, swimming behaviour, flying behaviour, terrestrial locomotion (4 h).
- Respiratory and circulatory systems: gas exchange, heart, diversity in invertebrates and vertebrates (6 h).
- Nervous system: nervous and chemical communication, brain and interspecific variation, sensory systems, ethology (4 h).
- Diversity and characteristics of main vertebrate and invertebrate taxa (6 h). Didactic methods
- The course consists of 36 hours (6 credits) of teaching. Lectures are provided as recordings. Teaching is based on slides and videos. The last hours of the course may be devoted to the revision of the main topics of the program. It will be possible to organise focus groups if needed.
Learning assessment procedures
- The aim of the examination is to test the level of comprehension and knowledge of the course arguments, as well as the capacity to reason in zoological context. The evaluation is expressed in thirtieths (minimum grade 18, maximum grade 30 cum laude).
Examination is written and consists of a questionnaire with multiple choices (31 questions). To pass, the student has to answer correctly to minimum 18 questions. To obtain the maximum score (30/30) the student has to answer 30 questions, to obtain 30 cum laude/30 the student has to answer all the questions correctly. Students will have a maximum of 60 minutes to answer to all questions. Reference texts
- Material (slides ppt) furnished during the lectures.
Suggested read: Hickman et al., Zoology
