Table of Contents
- Page ID
- 39301
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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.
1: Introduction to Biology
Biology is the study of living organisms, including their physical structure (from cells to whole individuals), chemical processes (such as metabolism), physiology, and development. This is a very broad definition because the scope of biology is vast. Biologists may study anything from the microscopic view of a cell to ecosystems and the whole living planet. Listening to the daily news, you will quickly realize how many aspects of biology are discussed every day.2: Biodiversity
Quantifying species diversity requires developing a definition of a species. We would not expect all members of a species to be identical, so we must consider what magnitude and types of differences between individuals would lead us to consider them members of different species. A species concept is, therefore, a working definition of a species and/or a methodology for determining whether or not two organisms are members of the same species. In this section, we will consider three species concep3: Climate Change
The climate of a region describes the average atmospheric conditions (temperature and precipitation) that region experiences and how much those conditions vary across seasons and years. Climate differs from weather in that weather is the atmospheric conditions at any given moment while climate is the long-term averages, patterns, or trends.