Approach animal biodiversity. Identify most important animal taxa.
Course Prerequisites
Basic knowledge of General Zoology (feeding, movement, reproduction, supporting structures, excretion, respiration), Embryology (segmentation, gastrulation, development of embryonic tissues, deuterostomies and protostomes) and Histology (features function of epithelial tissues, connective tissue, nerve tissue and muscle).
Teaching Methods
Lessons; seminars on applied aspects; laboratory exercises; presentations by the students; field excursions. For students participating to the DIDATTICA INCLUSIVA programme, video-lectures and vide-recordings of lectures are available on the KIRO platform
Assessment Methods
The exam includes a preliminary test of recognition of the main taxa treated in class. The test consists of 30 multiple choice questions in 30 minutes on the kirotesting platform. Who passes the test accesses the oral test which consists of 4-6 questions concerning both the apomorphies and the anatomical characteristics of the phyla treated in class, and the phylogenetic relationships between phyla and within phylum
Texts
Hickman et al. Diversità animale. McGraw-Hill (capitoli 16-33 nella più recente 16esima edizione)
Contents
This course describes biodiversity from Protista to Vertebrates, including systematics, morphology, main vital functions, evolution, habitats and habits. All the 34 Phyla are cited, but only the Protista, Porifera, Cnidaria, Platyhelmintes, Nemertea, Rotifera, Nematoda, Mollusca, Annelida, Ectoprocta, Arthropoda, Onicophora, Tardigrada, Echinoderma, Cordata (Urocordata, Cephalocordata, and Vertebrata)
