Students with interests in the plant and animal sciences will at the completion of their course understand:
* the basic biology of plant and animal systems from the cell to the level of whole organism as well as the basic biochemical process that controls them;
* biological organisation from the cellular to the environmental level;
* the application of taxonomic and ecological principals that apply to the Australian flora/and flora;
* freshwater, marine and terrestrial ecosystems gained through theoretical, practical and field work studies.
The discipline
The Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology offers subjects for students intending to major in botany or zoology. The subjects can be taken together or separately, or they may be combined with subjects from other departments such as Chemistry, Microbiology, Physiology, Genetics and Developmental Biology, Biochemistry, Earth Sciences etc.
In the first year, students undertake courses in biology, ie BIO1011 and BIO1022, which are six-point subjects prerequisite to the second-year subjects BOT2011, BOT2022, ZOO2011 and ZOO2022. Students continuing into third-year will enrol in the subjects BOT3011 and BOT3022 if majoring in plant sciences, or ZOO3011 and ZOO3022 if wishing to major in the animal sciences, or all of these subjects for a combined major in ecology and evolutionary biology. The department joins with the Department of Anatomy to offer a further two twelve-point subjects at third-year, namely ANT3011 and ANT3022.
In addition to the major animal and plant biology sequences the department offers two life science subjects at second year, LSC2011 (Biogeography, ecology and human populations) and LSC2022 (Conservation biology), intended for students wishing to broaden their exposure to the general principles of ecology and the ascendancy of human populations and their impact on the environment. These subjects may be taken separately or sequentially as neither is a corequisite or prerequisite of the other.
Students may undertake a fourth year of study for a BSc honours degree in a course combining studies of advanced topics with a research program under supervision.