Search Results
Your search for courses · during 2025-26 · tagged with BIOL Ecology and Evolutionary · returned 10 results
-
BIOL 220 Disease Ecology & Evolution 6 credits
Parasites and pathogens play a central role in shaping the natural world, from the physiology and behavior of individuals to the dynamics of populations and the structure of ecosystems. This course will explore the ecological and evolutionary processes that shape host-parasite interactions. Topics include transmission of disease through host populations, the evolution of virulence, coevolution between hosts and parasites, how disease influences communities and food webs, how parasites shape host behavior and life history, and the ecology of newly emerging infectious diseases.
Requires concurrent registration in BIOL 221.
Waitlist Information: If you would like to waitlist for a BIOL 221 lab section, you will need to UNCHECK the box for the lecture section, BIOL 220, prior to completing the waitlist process. If you are offered a seat in the lab, you will be able to register for the lecture at the same time.
Not offered in 2025-26
- No Exploration WR2 Writing Requirement 2
-
Student has completed the following courses: BIOL 125 with a grade of C- or better or received a score of 5 or better on the Biology AP exam or received a score of 6 or better on the Biology IB exam or received a Carleton Biology 125 Requisite Equivalency or completed Biology A Level Test 1 with a grade of B or better AND BIOL 126 with a grade of C- or better or received a Carleton Biology 126 Requisite Equivalency or completed Biology A Level Test 2 with a grade of B or better.
- BIOL 221: Disease Ecology and Evolution Laboratory
-
BIOL 221 Disease Ecology and Evolution Laboratory 2 credits
Students will learn techniques and field and laboratory approaches to studying host-parasite interactions in wild systems.
Requires concurrent registration in BIOL 220.
Waitlist Information: If you would like to waitlist for a BIOL 221 lab section, you will need to UNCHECK the box for the lecture section, BIOL 220, prior to completing the waitlist process. If you are offered a seat in the lab, you will be able to register for the lecture at the same time.
Not offered in 2025-26
- BIOL 220: Disease Ecology & Evolution
-
BIOL 248 Behavioral Ecology 6 credits
Behavioral ecologists strive to understand the complex ways that ecological pressures influence the evolution of behavioral strategies. It can be argued that animals face a relatively small set of basic challenges: they must acquire food, water, and mates, and they must avoid danger. Yet we see a rich diversity of solutions to these problems. Consider foraging behavior, for example. All animals must acquire energy, but some filter particles out of sea water, others graze on nearly inedible grasses, while still others hunt in cooperative packs. In this course we will consider such topics as foraging, communication, sociality, and conflict. By focusing on the functions and evolutionary histories of behaviors, we strive to better understand the puzzle of behavioral diversity.
- Winter 2026
- No Exploration QRE, Quantitative Reasoning
-
Student has completed the following courses: BIOL 125 with a grade of C- or better or received a score of 5 or better on the Biology AP exam or received a score of 6 or better on the Biology IB exam or received a Carleton Biology 125 Requisite Equivalency or completed Biology A Level Test 1 with a grade of B or better AND BIOL 126 with a grade of C- or better or received a Carleton Biology 126 Requisite Equivalency or completed Biology A Level Test 2 with a grade of B or better.
-
BIOL 321 Ecosystem Ecology 6 credits
Ecosystem ecology involves the study of energy and material flow through systems, including both the biotic (animals, plants, microbes) and abiotic (soil, water, atmosphere) components. Topics include the major elemental cycles (carbon, nitrogen, phosphorus), patterns of energy flow, and the controls of these fluxes for different ecosystems. Current environmental issues are emphasized as case studies, including climate change, land use change, human alterations of nutrient cycles, and biodiversity effects on ecosystems.
Not offered in 2025-26
- No Exploration QRE, Quantitative Reasoning WR2 Writing Requirement 2
-
Student has completed any of the following course(s): BIOL 126 AND one 200 level Biology, Environmental Studies or Geology course with grade of C- or better.
-
BIOL 338 Genomics and Bioinformatics 6 credits
The advent of next-generation sequencing technology has revolutionized biology, enabling transformative breakthroughs in fields ranging from agriculture to conservation to medicine. In this course, students will gain experience with the computational and bioinformatics tools needed to analyze “big data,” including sequence searching and alignment, assembly, gene calling and annotation. Students will learn to ask and answer their own scientific questions using sequence data, and to critically assess the conclusions of other genomics and bioinformatics studies. No prior computer programming experience is required. Associated laboratory will focus on wet lab methods for DNA/RNA extraction and preparation as well as computational analysis.
Requires concurrent registration in Biology 339.
Waitlist Information: If you would like to waitlist for a BIOL 339 lab section, you will need to UNCHECK the box for the lecture section, BIOL 338, prior to completing the waitlist process. If you are offered a seat in the lab, you will be able to register for the lecture at the same time.
- Fall 2025
- LS, Science with Lab QRE, Quantitative Reasoning
-
Student has completed any of the following course(s): BIOL 125 with a grade of C- or better or received a score of 5 or better on the Biology AP exam or received a score of 6 or better on the Biology IB exam AND BIOL 126 with a grade of C- or better AND either BIOL 240 or BIOL 321 or BIOL 350 with a grade of C- or better.
- BIOL 339: Genomics & Bioinformatics Lab
-
BIOL 339 Genomics & Bioinformatics Lab 2 credits
Requires concurrent registration in BIOL 338.
Waitlist Information: If you would like to waitlist for a BIOL 339 lab section, you will need to UNCHECK the box for the lecture section, BIOL 338, prior to completing the waitlist process. If you are offered a seat in the lab, you will be able to register for the lecture at the same time.
- Fall 2025
- No Exploration
- BIOL 338: Genomics and Bioinformatics
-
BIOL 350 Evolution 6 credits
Principles and history of evolutionary change in wild populations, with consideration of both microevolutionary and macroevolutionary time scales. Topics covered include causes of change in gene frequency, the nature of adaptation, constraints on evolutionary change, the evolution of genes and proteins, rates of speciation and extinction, and the major events in evolutionary history.
- Winter 2026
- No Exploration QRE, Quantitative Reasoning
-
Student has completed the following courses: BIOL 125 with a grade of C- or better or received a score of 5 or better on the Biology AP exam or received a score of 6 or better on the Biology IB exam or received a Carleton Biology 125 Requisite Equivalency or completed Biology A Level Test 1 with a grade of B or better AND BIOL 126 with a grade of C- or better or received a Carleton Biology 126 Requisite Equivalency or completed Biology A Level Test 2 with a grade of B or better.
-
BIOL 352 Population Ecology 6 credits
An investigation of the properties of populations and communities. Topics include population growth and regulation, life tables, interspecific and intraspecific competition, predation, parasitism, mutualism, the nature of communities, and biogeography. Expected preparation: previous experience with calculus is necessary, but no specific course is required. Statistics 120 or equivalent exposure to statistical analysis is recommended.
Requires concurrent registration in BIOL 353.
Recommended course: Statistics 120 or equivalent exposure to statistical analysis.
Waitlist Information: If you would like to waitlist for a BIOL 353 lab section, you will need to UNCHECK the box for the lecture section, BIOL 352, prior to completing the waitlist process. If you are offered a seat in the lab, you will be able to register for the lecture at the same time.
- Spring 2026
- LS, Science with Lab QRE, Quantitative Reasoning
-
Student has completed the following courses: BIOL 125 with a grade of C- or better or received a score of 5 or better on the Biology AP exam or received a score of 6 or better on the Biology IB exam or received a Carleton Biology 125 Requisite Equivalency or completed Biology A Level Test 1 with a grade of B or better AND BIOL 126 with a grade of C- or better or received a Carleton Biology 126 Requisite Equivalency or completed Biology A Level Test 2 with a grade of B or better.
- BIOL 353: Population Ecology Laboratory
-
BIOL 353 Population Ecology Laboratory 2 credits
Requires concurrent registration in BIOL 352.
Waitlist Information: If you would like to waitlist for a BIOL 353 lab section, you will need to UNCHECK the box for the lecture section, BIOL 352, prior to completing the waitlist process. If you are offered a seat in the lab, you will be able to register for the lecture at the same time.
- Spring 2026
- No Exploration
- BIOL 352: Population Ecology
-
BIOL 361 Seminar: Revolutions in Evolution—Key Innovations that Shaped Life on Earth 6 credits
The history of Life on Earth is punctuated by pivotal transitions that fundamentally change the course of evolution from that point forward. We will explore the primary literature that addresses how these seminal evolutionary changes come about. Among the questions we will pursue are: how did life originate? What was the nature of the last universal common ancestor? How did eukaryotes evolve? How did meiosis arise, and why is meiotic sexual reproduction favored over asexual alternatives?
Waitlist Only
- Winter 2026
- No Exploration
-
Student has completed any of the following course(s): BIOL 240 or BIOL 338 or BIOL 350 with grade of C- or better.