Biology 1411 - Spring 2008
Lab on the Internet
Biology 1411 will be using this web page every week this semester. You will want to come back to read about the following week's lab and prepare for the pre-lab quiz.
Please bookmark this page!
To take pre-lab quizzes you must go to the Blackboard web site. Make sure that you take the pre-lab quiz each week sometime before you come to lab.
There are NO LAB CLASSES THE FIRST WEEK OF SCHOOL, January 14 - 18.
| January |
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| January |
Lab 1 - Hypothesis Testing We will start this first lab by talking about some rules and grading policies. You should read the Lab Rules. Then we will conduct a simple experiment in an attempt to disprove at least one popular phenomenon of our society. You will be one of our guinea pigs! You may read the introduction for this lab here. |
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| January |
Lab 2 - Variation and Natural SelectionDarwin's idea of natural selection was built in part on his observations of variation in nature. In part of today's lab we will document variation in humans and in various seeds. To help his readers comprehend natural selection he explained how human-induced artificial selection has changed domesticated crops and animals. We will look at some examples of this selection. Read the pre-lab material (click on the lab title) and take the prelab quiz on Blackboard before going to lab. |
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| February |
Lab 3 - AdaptationWe will discuss a classic example of an animal that adapted to its environment and your group will recreate the process in the classroom. Then we will look for examples of other adaptations in nature. Read the pre-lab material (click on the lab title) and take the prelab quiz on Blackboard before going to lab. |
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| February |
Lab 4 - Population GrowthThomas Malthus provided the drive for natural selection through his writings on population growth. We will look at some of the factors that affect the growth of populations. Warm up your calculator for the first part of this lab and then sit back and let Excel do the calculations while we think about some of the implications. Read the pre-lab material (click on the lab title) and take the prelab quiz on Blackboard before going to lab. |
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| February |
Lab 5 - Predator - Prey InteractionsIn last week's lab we looked at some of the factors that affect population growth by looking at a single population at a time. Although this can be instructive it is much too simple to model the real world. This week we'll take a look at how two different species can affect each other by looking at the relationship between predators and their prey. Read the pre-lab material (click on the lab title) and take the prelab quiz on Blackboard before going to lab. |
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| February |
Lab 6 - Energy Flow We continue to look at the interaction between species. This week we will concentrate on the movement of energy from prey to predator. Read the pre-lab material (click on the lab title) and take the prelab quiz on Blackboard before going to lab. | ||||||||
| March |
Lab 7 - Extinction: The Game Read about extinction and then read the rules of the extinction game. How well you do in the game will affect your score in lab. Every one will participate in the game and everyone will take a quiz at the end of class. |
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| March |
Lab 8 - BiodiversityRead this material and pages 301 - 314 in your textbook before you take the pre-lab quiz on Blackboard. |
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| March |
SPRING BREAKNo Classes. You can catch up with your studying! |
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| April |
Lab 11- Environmental Problem Letters Information for the environmental problems assignment is here. We will introduce the Environmental Debates this week. This assignment stretches out over all the remaining weeks of the semester. There is NO MAKE-UP LAB THIS WEEK. If you cannot attend your regular lab section your must talk to your instructor. Your participation in the last three weeks of class are in jeopardy. |
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| May |
NO LABSGood luck on your final exams. |
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