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2024-2025 Catalog

BIOL 359 Microbial Ecology and Evolution

Due to their small size, diverse metabolic capabilities, ability to tolerate environmental extremes, capacity for rapid evolution, and horizontal gene transfer, microbes thrive in nearly every environment on the planet Earth (and perhaps beyond!). This class will  investigate a variety of topics within Microbial Ecology and Evolution by reading a discussing primary peer-reviewed scientific literature. Topics may include 1) Richard Lenski’s landmark Long-term E.coli evolution experiment, 2) How microbes cheat in group behavior, 3) How microbes cooperate though quorum sensing, 4) human and hyena microbiomes, 5) microbial regulation of soil carbon, 6) Microbes and the Gaia hypothesis.

Prerequisite

BIOL 111 and BIOL 112

Instructor

Norman