3532.14 - Biology I, Diversity of Life
Course number
3532.14
Title
Biology I, Diversity of Life
ECTS
7.5
Prerequisites
Upper secondary school
Purpose
To give the students a phylogenetic journey
through ”The Tree of Life”, with related
knowledge of taxonomy and identification. After
a brief introduction to the three domains, it will
go further into the four kingdoms of the
eukaryotes. Starting with the protists (1.
kingdom: Protista), it will be outlined how the
multicellular organisms diverse from them – first
the algae, where a part of the green algae
makes the development possible to proceed
into the plants (2. Kingdom: Plantae), including
nonvascular plants, seedless vascular plants
and seed plants. Along with this, the students
will be trained in using a flora to identify
Faroese vascular plants. In the 3. Kingdom
(Fungi) the fungi and the lichens will be
outlined. 4. kingdom includes the multicellular
animals (Animalia – diverse into 35 phyla),
which will be described by cladistics terms:
Metazoa and Eumetazoa, which arise with the
diploblastic phyla and then the triploblasts or
the bilateral phyla, which diverse into
deuterostoms, ecdysozoas and
lophotrochozoas. The system will be described
using embryonic layers, coeloms,
structure/function terms, RNA/DNA-analyses
and others as basis under the evolution. The
students will be trained in using taxonomic keys
for identification of Faroese animal groups.
Content
1,. 2., 3. and 4. Kingdom: Classification,
system/organization and phylogeny/evolution.
Unicellular protists. Heterotrophy/autotrophy.
Algae/seaweed. Origin of vascular plants, fungi
and animals. Plants, fungi, invertebrates and
vertebrates. Faroese flora and fauna.
Learning and teaching approaches
Lectures, films, exercises, identification, nature- /laboratory exercises, dissection, museum- /institution visits.
Learning outcomes
By the end of the course the students are expected
to be able to:
Know the three domains
Recognize the Kingdom Protista – including
algae/seaweed
Kingdom Plantae – including nonvascularand
vascular seedless plants and seed
plants
Recognize plant families
Identify vascular plants using a flora
Recognize Kingdom Fungi – including fungi,
mykorrhiza and lichens
Recognize Kingdom Animalia – including
invertebrates and vertebrates
Know the 35 phyla and be able to set them
up in a phylogenetic scene based on
certain characteristics
Be able to differentiate 12 of the phyla into
classes
and to identify the common animals in the
Faroe Islands
Use taxonomic keys for identification of
insects and fishes
Assessment method
Assessment method
Four-hour written examination. No auxiliary
material.
Examination
External
Contact
Anna Maria Fosaa