Courses

See All IB Courses

The courses below are courses offered by faculty in the Department of Entomology.
Not all courses are offered every semester. See All IB Courses for details.

• IB 220: Introduction to Applied Entomology

  - Lectures, laboratory, and field trips cover the biology of insects and the recognition and management of insect pests of agricultural, forest, and urban ecosystems. This course covers insect structure and physiology, classification, life histories, behavior, and pest management. It is worth 3 credit hours.

• IB 302: Evolution

  - Broad introduction to evolutionary biology, including natural selection and microevolution, phylogeny, speciation, molecular evolution, macroevolution and the fossil records. The laboratory emphasizes a survey of biodiversity and processes and patterns of evolution.

• IB 329: Animal Behavior

  - Introductory course emphasizing how patterns of behavior promote survival, change through evolution, and are modified by the environment.

• IB 361: Ecology and Human Health

  - Exploration of the emergence of infectious diseases and other human health issues from an ecological perspective, including vector-borne diseases, diseases spread from wildlife in terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems, and the role of pathogens and parasites in community and population ecology, food webs, and ecosystem functioning. Attention will be placed on how current and future global change and biodiversity loss will contribute to the increasing prevalence of human emerging diseases.

• IB 401: Introduction to Entomology

  - This course is made up of lectures and labs featuring integrated studies of the principal morphological, physiological, ecological and behavioral relationships among insects. This is a course for biology majors and related fields; it includes techniques of insect collection and taxonomy as well as laboratory studies of all aspects of insect lives.

• IB 411: Bioinspiration

  - Focuses on how experts in biology and technological fields find inspiration in nature and use it as a model to make technological innovations and solve societal problems. In the future, our day-to-day living, health, and the environment will benefit from interdisciplinary teams using findings in basic biological research for technological innovation. Topics to be explored include human health, efficient architecture, cooperative control, robotics, swarm logic, and advanced biological materials.

• IB 427: Insect Physiology

  - Study of the principal physiological and biochemical functions of insects. Lecture and laboratory. This course is one of the five core courses in the entomology graduate program.

• IB 432: Genes and Behavior

  - Concepts, methods, and problems in the analysis of the relationship between genes and behavior, the complex neurobiological processes that mediate action on behavior, in appropriate ecological and evolutionary contexts.

• IB 435: Critical Evaluation of Herbal Remedies

  - One-third of Americans use health care products derived from natural sources, particularly plants, but also animals, and fungi. This course examines the biological activity of natural products with respect to their ecological functions and their therapeutic uses. Principles of evidence-based medicine will be reviewed, and students will evaluate natural remedies through lectures, in-class activities, discussions, and analyses of scientific papers. Overall, students develop skills useful for evaluating alternative remedies and for communicating their conclusions to the general public.

• IB 444: Insect Ecology

  - Discussion of the practical and theoretical aspects of ecology in relation to insects as individuals, populations, and communities; emphasis on the role of insects in the environment. This course is one of the five core courses in the entomology graduate program.

• IB 451: Conservation Biology

  - Synthesis of conservation biology with an emphasis on the preservation of biological diversity and its evolutionary potential. Laboratory includes an introduction to the use of modern molecular techniques in conservation biology, computer simulation modeling, and field conservation problem solving.

• IB 468: Classification and Evolutionary History of Insects

  - Analytical survey of the classification and evolution of the orders and principal families of insects, with practical experience in the identification of insects at these taxonomic levels; field trips required. Lecture and laboratory. This course is one of the five core courses in the entomology graduate program.

• IB 481: Biology of Disease Vectors

  - Examines the major groups of arthropods and associated pathogens that affect the health and well-being of humans and other animals. Training will include identification, classification, methods of injury, habits, vector competence, and control of insects, ticks and mites that are predators, parasites, or vectors of disease. The course will examine and use both classical and molecular technologies to address epidemiological, ecological, and diagnostic factors associated with arthropod-borne diseases.

• IB 482: Fundamentals of Insect Pest Management

  - Study of the principles underlying the control of important insect pests of agriculture and of human and animal health; emphasis on integrated pest management involving a systems approach which combines biological, cultural, and chemical suppressive factors into ecologically sound and socially and economically acceptable technology. Lecture and laboratory. This course is one of the five core courses in the entomology graduate program.

• IB 483: Insect Pathology

  - Examines the general principles of pathology as they apply to insects; includes non-infectious and infectious diseases caused by viruses, bacteria, fungi, protozoa, and nematodes. Studies the epizootiology of naturally occurring insect disease and the use of insect pathogens as microbial control agents. Lecture and laboratory.

• IB 485: Environmental Toxicology & Health

  - Explores toxicological, environmental, public health, occupational and ecological aspects of the use and release of toxic substances in the environment; features case histories of environmental contamination that illustrate ecological, health, and social aspects of pollution; emphasizes biochemical mechanisms and ecosystem consequences.

• IB 486: Pesticide Toxicology

  - Examines the biological effects of major classes of insecticides and herbicides, and of selected individual fungicides, including toxicity to nontarget organisms, persistence and fate in the environment, biotransformation, and ecological consequences. Current regulations on pesticide testing will also be presented. The mechanism of action on target species will be discussed only in relation to effects on nontarget organisms.

• IB 504: Genomic Analysis of Insects

  - Comprehensive and integrated presentation of insect genomic analysis from the molecular level to that of the population; concepts are applied to certain aspects of insect population regulation. This course is one of the five core courses in the entomology graduate program.

• IB 526: Seminar in Entomology

  - Each semester a different faculty member chairs a small group of students that discuss, review, and critique papers in a specific field of entomology. Previous topics have included "Caste Determination in Social Insects", "Steroid Receptors and Insect Metamorphosis", and "Insect Toxicology". Each graduate student must complete three different semesters of these small group discussions.