Biol 515:
Marine Invertebrate Biology

Time: Mon & Wed 13:00-16:40
Room: LS 343

Instructor: Dr. Brian T. Hentschel
e-mail: hentsche@sunstroke.sdsu.edu

Office: PS 147
Phone: (619) 594-0358
Office Hour: Tue 14:00-15:00
and by e-mail appointment

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Biol-515 "Syllabus" Handouts
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Required Textbook:
Pechenik, J. A. 2005. Biology of the invertebrates. 5th Edn. McGraw-Hill, Boston, Massachusetts, USA.

Additional Textbook, STRONGLY Recommended as a Supplement:
Pearse, V., J. Pearse, M. Buchsbaum, and R. Buchsbaum. 1987. Living invertebrates. Blackwell Scientific, Boston, Massachusetts, USA.

Course Description

Biol 515 is an upper-division elective course covering the identification of marine invertebrates, their body plans and morphological structures, the physiological and ecological functions of those structures, ecological interactions involving invertebrates, and the evolutionary relationships among invertebrate groups (taxa). The course format includes two lectures and two 3-h lab periods each week. Lectures will be brief, providing an introduction to each taxon and focusing on the key morphological, physiological, ecological, and evolutionary features of each taxon. Most of the students’ learning will occur in the lab portion of the course, in which a wide diversity of living and preserved specimens will be available for observation, dissection, and comparative study. Several field trips will provide opportunities to observe and collect diverse invertebrates in nature.