TITLE: PRINCIPLES OF ZOOLOGY
UNIT (SUBJECT) CODE: SBI 213
CREDIT POINTS: 15
PRE-REQUISITES: BI 131 and BI141
COURSE DESCRIPTION: This course deals with the study of animals, defined as organisms with the following characteristics; (i) multicellular eukaryotes, (ii) heterotrophic nutrition, usually ingestive (take food into an internal system), (iii) no cellular cell wall, (iv) no vacuole (with sap), (v) no plastids, (vi) reproduction mainly sexual. Although protozoa are eukaryotes, they have been put into their own Phylum Protista. This effectively excludes organisms such as Euglena, Paramecium, Volvox, and other protozoa from the animal Kingdom. We will look at a brief overview of this phylum in this course.
This course will bring across students' knowledge about the taxonomic relationship of animals, their forms or architecture, and the functions their structure plays in order for survival in the ecosystem they live in, and the evolutionary significance of these structures.
LEARNING OUTCOMES:
After completing this course, the student will have acquired the following knowledge.
1) Understand zoology as a scientific study of animals in relation to the four major disciplines
of zoology: Cell Biology, Genetics, Evolution, and Ecology
2) Develop skills to carry out independent (and/or collaborative) research in zoology
3) Apply statistical analysis during and after data collection
4) Understand the application of zoology to everyday life
5) Read and write a scientific papers
6) Develop critical thinking skills and avoid cut-&-paste, memorization, and other ‘spoon-feeding’ techniques
CONTENT:
1. Science and scientific methods- Introduction, Overview of all the biological diversity, such as the Bacteria, plants, fungi, algae, animals, limits of these groups and their cladograms, and the different groups of animals in the biological diversity.
2. Animal Morphology and Anatomical Structures -Animal morphology includes body plan, anatomy, and other characters.
3. Phylum Porifera- Morphology and Anatomy of this group of animals, any subdivision under this phylum, and any special importance to mankind. 4. Phylum Cnidarian or
Coelenterates- Morphology and Anatomy of this group of animals, any subdivision under this phylum, and any special importance to mankind. 5. Phylum Platyhelminthes- Morphology and Anatomy of this group of animals, any subdivision under this phylum, and any special importance to mankind. 6. Phylum Nematoda- Morphology and Anatomy of this group of animals, any subdivision under this phylum, and any special importance to mankind.
7. Phylum Annelida- Morphology and Anatomy of this group of animals, any subdivision under this phylum, and any special importance to mankind.
8. Phylum Arthropoda- Morphology and Anatomy of this group of animals, any subdivision under this phylum, and any special importance to mankind 9. Phylum Echinodermata-
Morphology and Anatomy of this group of animals, any subdivision under this phylum, and any special importance to mankind 10. Phylum Chordata- Urochordata,
Cephalochordata, Pisces, and amphibians - Morphology and Anatomy of this group of animals, any subdivision under this phylum, and any special importance to mankind
11. Phylum Chordata- Reptiles, Aves, and vertebrates- Morphology and Anatomy of
this group of animals, any subdivision under this phylum, and any special importance to
mankind
TEACHING & LEARNING STRATEGIES
Teaching and learning strategies will include explanation, concept development, demonstration, and group work, structured discussion, practical lessons to complement the lectures and tutorial sessions, projects, and interest-based research.
ASSESSMENT:
EXAM 50%, Test 20%, Assignment 10%, Practical 15% A&;P 5 %
MAIN TEXTBOOK AND SELECTED KEY REFERENCES
Hickman, Roberts, Larson, l’Anson, Eisenhour. 2006. Integrated Principles of Zoology 13th Ed. McGraw-Hill Customized for Principles of Zoology.
Biology (A level), WD Phillips & TJ Chilton Asking about life, Tobin and Dusheck
Biology (6 th edition) Campbell; Reece, 2002
- Teacher: Alwyn Kawona