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BIS 2B: Introduction to Biology - Ecology and Evolution

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  • Page ID
    24829

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    BIS 2B is part of the UC Davis Biological Sciences lower division core sequence and is designed to provide a foundation for study of modern biology for a broad range of majors. BIS 2B explores the ecological and evolutionary processes that shape biological diversity and acquaints you with the physical challenges of the environment. This course complements how BIS 2A treats the fundamental molecular, cellular, developmental, physiological, and genetic building blocks of living organisms, and the origins of life itself and how BIS 2C considers the diversity of life on earth that is the outcome of several billion years of continuous evolution and ecology.

    Specifically, this course covers the processes by which organisms have evolved over the 3.5+ billion years of the existence of life on Earth (evolution) and the present-day processes by which those species interact with each other and the environment to create the habitats, patterns of distribution and abundance of species we see around us (ecology). As you will certainly see throughout the quarter, evolution and ecology are fundamentally linked: evolutionary history shapes a species’ ecology, and present-day ecology can influence future evolutionary trajectories. This is why they are studied together in this course.

    Thumbnail: American bison. (Public Domain; Jack Dykinga (Agricultural Research Service) via Wikipedia)

    This page titled BIS 2B: Introduction to Biology - Ecology and Evolution is shared under a CC BY-SA 4.0 license and was authored, remixed, and/or curated by Laci M. Gerhart-Barley.