BI 101 General Biology: Ecology and Diversity

1. The student will design and implement an experiment and then analyze and draw conclusions from the results.
2. The student will learn to identify local flora in a field setting using a dichotomous key as an tool.
3. The student will explain the characteristics of the domains and kingdoms of living organisms, including bacteria, archaea, protists, fungi, plants, and animals, and will diagram their evolutionary relationships.
4. The student will compare and contrast examples of human impact, including, but not limited to, the spread of invasive species, urbanization, pollution, resource extraction, and habitat destruction, on the environment, especially on biodiversity.
5. The student will apply demographic information (birth rates, death rates, fertility rates, etc) to explain and interpret the growth characteristics of human and non-human populations.
6. The student will evaluate forest communities from the local region through directed field experience to assess community ecology principles such as species richness, species diversity, and successional status.
7. The student will relate species composition and other characteristics of communities, ecoregions and biomes to physical environment and climate patterns.
8. The student will diagram and explain the movement of energy and nutrients, including carbon, nitrogen, sulfur, phosphorus and water, in and through ecosystems.
9. The student will assess the sustainability of human activities, including one’s own, and relate these to impacts on populations, communities, ecosystems and the biosphere.
10. The student will discern the difference between and the relationship of global warming to climate change and will assess methods to mitigate and adapt to their effects.
11. The student will identify a local environmental issue, research the extent of the issue both globally and locally, plan a service learning experience to help mitigate or better understand the problem and create a presention about the experience as a volunteer and/or a community scientist.

Statewide General Education Outcomes:

1. Gather, comprehend, and communicate scientific and technical information in order to explore ideas, models, and solutions and generate further questions. 

2. Apply scientific and technical modes of inquiry, individually, and collaboratively, to critically evaluate existing or alternative explanations, solve problems, and make evidence-based decisions in an ethical manner. 

3. Assess the strengths and weaknesses of scientific studies and critically examine the influence of scientific and technical knowledge on human society and the environment. 

• Nature of Science 
  • Methods of scientific inquiry 
  • Examples of the development of particular scientific theories 
• Biodiversity 
  • Basics of evolution with regard to organism classification 
  • Characteristics of Bacteria, Archaea, Protista, Fungi, Plantae, and Animalia 
  • Impact of humans on biodiversity 
• Ecology 
  • Populations demographics and dynamics, including human populations 
  • Community interactions and succession 
  • Biogeochemical cycles in Ecosystems, including water, carbon, nitrogen, phosphorus, and sulfur
  • Biosphere and Biomes 
• Environmental Issues 
  • Human impact on populations, communities, and ecosystems 
  • Global warming and climate change 
  • Biodiversity loss 
  • Relevant current issues in the Pacific Northwest 
• Field Trips 
  • Use of dichotomous keys to identify vegetation in a variety of local communities 
  • Environmental conditions (precipitation, light, temperature, soils) in a variety of local communities 
  • Relate organism diversity, distribution, and density to environmental conditions including elevation and precipitation
• Labs 
  • Scientific method
  • Understanding plant diversity through using a dichotomous key
  • County park field trip  - Plant populations 
  • Cascade virtual field trip - Plant communities
  • World populations 
  • Biogeochemical cycles 
  • Global Change
  • Microscopy and the diversity of viruses, bacteria, and protists
  • Animal diversity 
  • Service learning project and presentation