This course has a mandatory, five-day supervised lab component (usually offered in Athabasca during the summer months). Check dates and locations of supervised lab prior to registering for this course.
Students who do not require an onsite laboratory component to meet transfer credit requirements may consider taking BIOL 205 (which has home labs only, no supervised lab component) instead of BIOL 207. Please note, however, that BIOL 207 is a required course for Athabasca University students in Science programs and cannot be substituted with BIOL 205. (Exceptions: Students in the Bachelor of Science (Post Diploma) program who have successfully completed a biology lab component and students in the Biology Minor program)
Overview
Biology 207 is the second of two introductory courses in general biology that will prepare students for senior-level biology courses. Designed to help students learn more about the nature of life, the main topics of this course include the diversity of organisms, including fungi, plants, protists, animals, and bacteria. The course will emphasize evolution as the overriding biological principle. This course also includes a five-day, in-person lab component.
Outline
BIOL 207 covers two main units (Evolution and Diversity), divided into six units:
Unit 1: Principles of Evolution (Evolutionary theory; natural, artificial and sexual selection; microevolution; population genetics; macroevolution)
Unit 2: Evolutionary History (Chemical evolution, evolution of cells, history of life, human evolution)
Unit 3: Diversity of Life I (Prokaryotes, viruses, prions)
Unit 4: Diversity of Life II (Protists, fungi, plants)
Unit 5: Diversity of Life III (Animals)
Unit 6: Conserving and Utilizing Biodiversity (Conservation of biodiversity, domestication)
Simulation exercises of evolutionary processes include dog domestication and sickle cell alleles in African malaria areas (using SimBio software).
Laboratory Outline
The intensive, five-day, 40-hour onsite lab covers topics from both BIOL 204 and BIOL 207 and includes the following main lab activities: microscopy; microbiology; sterile techniques; enzyme lab; electrophoresis; spectrometry; molecular biology; restriction enzymes; animal diversity; fetal pig dissection; diversity of fungi, plants and protists; evaluation of experiments; and lab report writing.
Students who have attended an equivalent lab at another institution may qualify for a lab exemption.
Evaluation
To receive credit for BIOL 207, you must achieve a course composite grade of at least D (50 percent) and a minimum of 50 percent for the lab evaluation, and a grade of at least 50 percent on the final examination. The weighting of the composite grade is as follows:
Activity
Weight
Assignment 1
10%
Assignment 2
10%
Simulation Exercises
15%
Lab evaluation
25%
Midterm exam
15%
Final exam
25%
Total
100%
The midterm and final examinations for this course must be taken online with an AU-approved exam invigilator at an approved invigilation centre. It is your responsibility to ensure your chosen invigilation centre can accommodate online exams. For a list of invigilators who can accommodate online exams, visit the Exam Invigilation Network.
To learn more about assignments and examinations, please refer to Athabasca University's online Calendar.
Materials
Russell, P. J., et al. (2016). Biology: Exploring the diversity of life (3rd Canadian ed.). Toronto, ON: Nelson Education. (eText)
Athabasca University reserves the right to amend course outlines occasionally and without notice. Courses offered by other delivery methods may vary from their individualized-study counterparts.
Opened in Revision 3, January 14, 2021
Updated October 28, 2021, by Student & Academic Services