Great Transitions in Vertebrate History
** available as of 06/15/2025
** available as of 06/15/2025
Prerequisites: BIOL 265.
The major vertebrate groups-fish, amphibians, reptiles, birds, and mammals-arose through great transitions in size and form. These transitions opened up previously inaccessible habitats for those groups to radiate throughout, creating the remarkable diversity we observe today. In this class, students will learn about the major transitions that occurred in vertebrate history within the context of Earth's geological history. Students will also learn about the adaptive changes in anatomy and life history that have allowed those radiations to successfully radiate in those habitats. Students will also learn about species whose unique attributes allow them to occupy the most extreme habitats on earth, such as the deep sea, arctic, and high elevation habitats.
Outcomes: Learn the major radiations of vertebrates and their evolutionary relationships, the general characteristics of the major organ systems in those radiations, the major evolutionary transitions that occurred during vertebrate history, and how changes in ecology, life history, and anatomy change during organismal evolution.
The major vertebrate groups-fish, amphibians, reptiles, birds, and mammals-arose through great transitions in size and form. These transitions opened up previously inaccessible habitats for those groups to radiate throughout, creating the remarkable diversity we observe today. In this class, students will learn about the major transitions that occurred in vertebrate history within the context of Earth's geological history. Students will also learn about the adaptive changes in anatomy and life history that have allowed those radiations to successfully radiate in those habitats. Students will also learn about species whose unique attributes allow them to occupy the most extreme habitats on earth, such as the deep sea, arctic, and high elevation habitats.
Outcomes: Learn the major radiations of vertebrates and their evolutionary relationships, the general characteristics of the major organ systems in those radiations, the major evolutionary transitions that occurred during vertebrate history, and how changes in ecology, life history, and anatomy change during organismal evolution.