• Amateur Radio Relay League (ARRL)
• Bald Eagle Amateur Radio Club
• Clinton County SPCA Board Member
• Psychological Operations Veterans Association (POVA)
• Radio Amateur Civil Emergency Services (RACES)
• Western PA Triumph Association

I. Introductory Information:

1. Catalog No.: BIOL302
2. Course Title: Developmental Biology
3. Clock Hours Per Week: 5
4. Credit: 3 Semester Hours
5. Department: Biological Sciences
6. Prerequisites: Genetics Biol202 or Permission of Instructor

II. Description of Course:

Much more than classic embryology, developmental biology is a study of processes producing structural and functional changes in molecules, cells, tissues, and organs during developmental cycles of plants and animals.

Four component aspects of development will be considered on the organismal, cellular, and molecular levels: determination, differentiation, growth, and morphogenesis.

Subject matter will include relevant findisngs in cytogenetics, cell and molecular biology, biochemistry, and embryology.

C. Major Units and Time Allotted:

Topic:

1. Introduction (1 class period)

• Scope of developmental biology
• Basic definitions
• Early theories and experimental embryology

2. Gametogenesis (4 class periods)

• Proliferation: Mitosis and Cytokinesis
• Spermatogenesis: Meiosis and Spermiogenesis
• Oogenesis: Meiosis and Maturation

3. Fertilization (4 class periods)

• Fertilizin and antifertilizin reaction
• Sperm and egg recognition
• Sperm penetration
• Cortical granule reaction and membrane polarity change
• Cytoplasmic pH changes and activation process
• Parthenogenesis

4. Embryogenesis (8 class periods)

• Cleavage
  • patterns
  • blastula formation and types of blastulae
• Gastrulation
  • fate maps and germinal tissue
  • morphogenetic movements and types of gastrulae

5. Molecular and genetic basis of development (7 class periods)

• Chromosome structure and gene function
  • histone and nonhistone acid proteins
  • heterochromatic and euchromatic states
• Gene function in gametogenesis, cleavage, and blastulation
  • lampbrush chromosomes
  • masked messenger hypothesis
  • cytoplasmic influence or determinants
• Gene function in gastrulation and organogenesis
  • the homeobox, homeodomain proteins, determination and differentiation

6. Organogenesis (4 class periods)

• Tissue interactions and induction
• Development of organs derived from ectoderm
• Development of organs derived from mesoderm
• Development of organs derived from endoderm

This 3 s.h. course is a broadly balanced introduction to the insect world including structure and function, taxonomy, life cycles, habits, reproduction and development, disease relationships, and agricultural importance. Students are expected to collect, identify, and label insects for a required insect collection. The collection will consist of a minimum of 60 Families in 15 Orders. There are two 50 minute lectures and one two hour 50 min lab per week. Course is offered every other even year. Developmental Biology alternates in odd years.

Textbook: Insects by Borror, Triplehorn, and Johnson. 1989. Saunders Publishing.

Labbook: Entomology Lab Manual: The Bug Mug Book by Yoho, T.P. Updated periodically

I. Introductory Information

1. Catalog No.: BS 413
2. Course Title: Entomology
3. Clock Hours per Week: 5
4. Credit: 3 Semester Hours
5. Department: Biological Sciences
6. Prerequisites: Six semester hours of biology or permission of Instructor.

II. Description of Course

Entomology is a study of a very specific group of organisms,the insects, which far outnumber all other species of life on earth.

The approach to this vast field of investigation will be in the manner of a broad balanced introduction developed around 3 major concepts:

1. Structure and Function which includes pertinent topics in external and internal anatomy and morphology as well as physiology.

2. Unity and Diversity which embraces aspects of evolution, systematics and a survey of insect life cycles and habits, including types of reproduction and development.

3. Applied aspects of Entomology which will consider how some insects are problems in terms of agricultural loses and disease relationships to man and domesticated animals.

 

C. Major Course Units and Time Allotted:

l. Introduction (l class period)

• The Scope of Entomology
• History
• Fields of Study
• Importance to Man

2. Phylum Arthropoda (l class period)

• General characteristics
• Evolutionary relationships
• Characteristics of Classes
• Subdivision Chelicerata
• Subdivision Manibulata

3. Class Insecta: External Morphology

• The Integumentary System (1 class period)
  • Basic components
  • Sclerotization
  • External Integumentary Processes
  • Molting and Ecdysis
• The Head (l class period)
  • Sclerites and Sutures
  • Compound eyes, Ocelli, and Stemmata
  • Antennal types
  • Mouthpart types
  • Tentorium
• The Thorax (2 class periods)
  • Sclerites and Sutures of Nota, Pleura and Sterna
  • Types of Thoraces Leg attachment and types of legs
  • Wing attachment and types of wings
• The Abdomen (l class period)
  • Sclerites and sutures of Terga, Pleura and Sterna
  • Nongenital abdominal appendages External genitalia

4. Internal Anatomy and Physiology

• The Alimentary System (2 class periods)
  • Generalized digestive system
  • Diet related adaptations
  • Salivary glands
  • Malpighian tubules and excretion
  • Digestion and absorption
  • Mutualistic organisms
• The circulatory System (l class period)
  • Hemolymph and Hemocytes
  • Protection
  • Storage and transport
  • Hydraulic mechanism
  • The dorsal vessel and accessory pumping devices
• The ventilatory System (l class period)
  • Tracheae and Tracheoles
  • Air sacs
  • Spiracles
  • Aquatic mechanisms
• The Nervous System (l class period)
  • Central Nervous System
  • Visceral or Sympathetic Nervous System
  • Sense receptors
• The Endocrine System (l class period)
  • Brain or neurosecretory hormones
  • Corpora cardiaca
  • Corpora allata
  • Prothoracic gland
  • Moulting and ecdysis

5. Reproduction and Morphogenesis (2 class periods)

• Ovaries, ovarioles and accessory structures
• Testes and accessory structures
• Sex determination and parthenogenesis
• Metamorphosis
• Ametabolous
• Anamorphosis
• Paurometabolous
• Hemimetabolous
• Hypermetamorphosis
• Larval types Pupal types

6. Systematics (l class period)

• Purpose of Identification
• Methods and Problems Encountered in Identification International Code of Zoological Nomenclature
• Type concept Taxonomic categories

7. Survey of Class Insecta (9 class periods)

Habitat, life history, specific characteristics, economic and medical importance of the following groups:

• Subclass Apterygota

• Order Protura
• Order Collembola
• Order Thysanura
• Order Diplura

• Subclass Pterygota

• Division Exopterygota

• Order Ephemeroptera
• Order Odonata
• Order Plecoptera
• Order Dermaptera
• Order Isoptera
• Order Embioptera
• Order Zoraptera
• Order Psocoptera
• Order Mallophaga
• Order Anoplura
• Order Thysanoptera
• Order Hemiptera
• Order Homoptera

• Division Endopterygota

• Order Neuroptera
• Order Mecoptera
• Order Trichoptera
• Order Lepidoptera
• Order Diptera
• Order Coeloptera
• Order Siphonaptera
• Order Strepsiptera
• Order Hymenoptera

8. Applied Entomology (3 class periods)

• The Problems

• Agricultural pests
• Lawn and ornamental pests
• Stored products, household and structural materials
• Insects as causative agents of disease and discomfort

• The Solutions

• Biological Control
• Environmental Control
• Chemical Control
• Mechanical and Physical Control

 

I. Introductory Information:

1. Catalog No.: BIOL4l0
2. Course Title: Organismal Physiology
3. Clock Hours Per Week: 5
4. Credit: 3 Semester Hours
5. Department: Biological Sciences
6. Prerequisites:

II. Description of Course:

Organismal Physiology is designed in part as a capstone course utilizing concepts learned in previous science courses. The course is intended to take the student above the cellular level in functional biology by using chemical, cellular and molecular concepts as a basis for the discussion of higher level functions.

The theme of the course is homeostasis or the physiology of compensation for environmental change. The responses to external stimuli and the manner in which organisms compensate is discussed in relation to energy needs, thermoregulation, osmoregulation, movement, hemoregulation including blood buffering, and information processing including neural and hormonal systems. Although animal physiology is stressed, some examples of protistian and plant physiology are used.

C. Major Units and Time Allotted:

Topic:

1. Introduction to Organismal Physiology (1 class period)

• Scope of the course

2. Bioenergetics: Food and Energy Requirements (6 class periods)

• Energy and work in living organisms
• Thermodynamics and life
• Energy extraction: Autotrophs and Heterotrophs
• Energy transformations in organisms
• Energy needs of organisms: BMR/SMR/FMR
• Energy needs of organisms: Thermoregulation/Body Size

3. Osmoregulation: Water and Solute Regulation (7 class periods)

• Diffusion and osmosis: Methods and validity of measurement
• Osmoregulators and osmoconformers
• Organs of osmoregulation in a variety of organisms
• Function of kidneys in conservation, excretion and blood buffering
• The renin angiotensin mechanism of salt and water regulation

4. Movement of Organisms (7 class periods)

• Methods of organism movement
• Structural types of muscle and their purpose
• The sliding filament theory of muscle movement
• The electrical and molecular theories of muscle movement
• The function of the heart in hemoregulation

5. Information Processing (7 class periods)

• Irritability of cells and organisms
• The origin and purpose of resting potentials of cells
• Types and structure of the nervous system
• Organism receptor mechanisms
• Information coding
• Neural and synaptic transmission
• Responses of the organism
• Hormones and chemical regulation of the cell and organism

6. Unit Exams (2 class periods)