Zoology

This subject will provide students with the opportunity to gain a first-hand laboratory experience of the structure and function of critical endocrine and neuroendocrine systems, including the reproductive system, and how environmental factors can affect an animal’s physiology. Students will gain experience in experimental design, cutting-edge research techniques, data analysis, and scientific report writing and will be introduced to the practicalities of conducting a 5-week project in a research laboratory.

This subject gives students of science and biomedical science a solid foundation in laboratory practice in experimental animal biology. Students will be provided with an opportunity to engage in an authentic experience of scientific research: addressing questions in animal physiology to generate a hypothesis; designing an experiment; hands-on experience in the use of experimental animals; working in a group to complete the experiments and to collect and analyse the data; writing up an individual final report in the format of a scientific manuscript; and peer-review.

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A capacity to interpret data is fundamental to making informed decisions in everyday life. The design of experiments, analysis, and interpretation of biological data also lie at the very heart of the scientific enterprise. You cannot be a scientist without an understanding of data and design. This subject introduces you to fundamental concepts in data science for biology, with emphasis on modern statistical methods. Drawing on real biological problems and datasets, as well as drawing on data collected by the class, the lectures cover foundational concepts in experimental design and statistical modelling. The subject emphasises hands-on problem solving. As well as a solid grounding in statistical methodology, you will also develop practical skills, developing your capacity to design experiments, collect data, and analyse those data using the R statistical environment.

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Animals are faced with innumerable challenges across their lifetime that must be overcome if individuals are to survive and reproduce, and ultimately for species to persist. Many of these challenges, such as how to move, how to respire, how to sense your environment, how to feed, and how to reproduce, are ubiquitous across the animal kingdom, but have been solved in unique ways by different phyla.

Animal Structure and Function is a lecture and laboratory-based subject that explores the amazing morphological diversity of life and how this has evolved to meet essential biological functions. The course is structured around a series of key ‘biological challenges’ within which we will compare and contrast different ‘biological solutions’ to the same problem across animals ranging from corals through to apes. In the practicals, you will learn how to classify animals and interpret their features, and develop an integrated understanding of animal diversity and the evolutionary forces that drive this.

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It is widely held that nothing in biology makes sense, except in the light of evolution. But evolutionary theory is crucial not only for making sense of organic diversity, but also for helping us understand and manage our interactions with other organisms: antibiotic and insecticide resistance, disease virulence, fisheries decline, spread of invasive species, human behaviour and life-histories are all informed by a knowledge of the processes of evolution. This subject will reveal the ubiquity of biological evolution in both natural and human modified environments. It will describe and explain the agents of change— drift, migration and selection, and show their effects on both single and multiple gene traits, and on the phylogenetic relationships of species. The subject will introduce co-evolutionary processes, which are critical for understanding traits that evolve through interactions between species, including humans. Particular topics will include (but not limited to): heritable variation; agents of evolution; artificial, natural and sexual selection; phenotypes and quantitative genetics; phylogeny, speciation and the tree of life; and antagonistic and mutualistic co-evolution. The subject will emphasise both the outcome and process of scientific research leading to our understanding of evolutionary processes, drawing on examples from across the diversity of life.

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This subject aims to give students of science and biomedical science a solid foundation in human and animal reproductive biology and its applications. Students will be provided with a curriculum informed by current research and addressing an understanding of the principles and processes of reproductive biology, the biological bases of reproductive disorders and diseases, assisted reproductive technologies and reproduction in a global context. Students will gain experience in learning how to search the primary scientific literature.

Topics will include structure, function, and development of the reproductive organs; endocrine and neuroendocrine and environmental control of reproduction, fertilisation, pregnancy, parturition and lactation in humans and other animals; reproductive diseases and disorders; assisted reproductive technologies; and reproduction in a community and global perspective.

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This subject develops a student’s knowledge of cell biology, introduced in second year subjects. The subject describes the molecular mechanisms underpinning eukaryotic cell and tissue organisation, morphology and behaviour and their importance in biomedicine. We will explore the relationships between cellular organisation and the biological functions of normal and stressed cells, as well as experimental strategies for investigating the molecular basis of these relationships. The subject matter includes the compartmentalisation of eukaryotic cells; intracellular trafficking of biomolecules; the structure, function and biogenesis of subcellular organelles; protein folding and maturation; vesicle-mediated transport; structure and function of the extracellular matrix and cell adhesion molecules and their role in diseased states such as malignancies; cellular stress responses and linked signal transduction events; cytoskeletal structures and the signal transduction processes regulating the assembly and disassembly of actin-cytoskeleton; molecular processes determining cell movement and shape changes; imaging of processes within live cells. Students will also gain an appreciation of the major concepts involved in the development of a range of organisms. This multi-disciplinary subject is co-taught by staff in the School of Biomedical Sciences and School of BioSciences. A feature of this subject is the application of this knowledge in pure and applied research and thus will provide a platform for students in many Life Science majors.

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This subject introduces students to the major ecological questions that can be addressed at the levels of individuals, populations, communities and ecosystems. What determines the distribution of individuals of a species? What controls the abundance of populations of a species? What determines the richness and diversity of species in a community? What governs the turnover of matter and energy in an ecosystem?

Making use of aquatic and terrestrial examples, topics include organisms and the physical environment, life histories, population growth and regulation, managing populations, theoretical models, species interactions, community change and energy flows. The practical component will emphasise approaches to the collection and analysis of ecological data, and how to interpret and write scientific reports.

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This subject explores how natural and sexual selection have shaped the intriguing and often bizarre behaviours of animals. Topics include resource competition, predator avoidance, communication, mate choice, parental care, cooperation, sexual conflict, and the role of genes, hormones and learning in shaping behavioural diversity. We evaluate the scientific rigour of studies used to test theory, and highlight the often ingenious methods adopted by researchers to understand animal behaviour.

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