Christian A Sidor
Examines fossil vertebrate life, focusing on systematics and morphology of major lineages (fish, reptiles, bird, and early mammal relatives). Examines fossil and modern vertebrates from the Burke Museum collection in the lab. Weekend field trip. Prerequisite: either BIOL 354, BIOL 452, BIOL 453 or ESS 100. Offered: jointly with ESS 452; A, even years.
This course introduces students to the history of vertebrate life as seen in the fossil record, focusing on anatomical and systematic aspects of the major vertebrate lineages. The first half of the course will discuss jawless fish, armored fish, cartilaginous fish, and bony fish, as well as the origin of tetrapods. The second half of the course will focus on amniotes (reptiles, birds, and early mammals relatives) with particular emphasis on fossil reptiles. The lecture portion of the course will be supplemented with a lab in which we will examine fossil and modern vertebrates from the Burke Museum collections.
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