This course is offered each Fall and Spring Semester. Biol 323 is intended as a comprehensive course on vertebrate evolution. We will explore the functional morphology of the major groups of vertebrates, both living and extinct, as well as the evolutionary history of vertebrates and their organ systems. You will personally dissect a primitive (shark) and a derived (cat) vertebrate. At the end of the course, you will be able to make a reasoned reconstruction of 600 million years of vertebrate natural history.

This course will present a survey of the history of the vertebrates. Students will explore the evolutionary adaptations, phylogenetic relations, biogeography and chronology of fossil vertebrates, as well as the methods used for studying these. We will also review some of the current controversies in this field. Yes, we will talk about dinosaurs! This course is team-taught with Dr. Dana Cope, from the Dept .of Sociology and Anthropology.

Since the beginning of the Tertiary, mammals have been the dominant terrestrial vertebrate taxon. They are the primary herbivores and carnivores of most present-day ecosystems. We are ourselves mammals, and we interact with many other mammalian species at many different levels. This course will provide an in-depth examination of mammalian evolution and diversity (at both global and regional levels). Topics included are (among others) mammalian functional morphology, physiology, behavior, and ecology. In the labs, you will learn to distinguish between different mammal taxa, and begin to recognize both local species and families, and worldwide orders of mammals. Field activities typically include a census of mammal species at Dixie Plantation. Several other field trips, visits to the Riverbank Zoo and the Charleston Museum, may also be scheduled.

Dinosaurs were probably the most successful of all land vertebrates. For over 150 million years, they were the dominant herbivores and carnivores of the terrestrial environment: their reign far exceeded the duration or scope of dominance of any other group of tetrapods, including mammals. In this course, we will examine what these animals were like, and what might account for both their unparallelled success and ultimate disappearance. This course includes lecture and lab-based material, as well as an examination of some of the current views and controversies through student-led discussions of the primary literature.