A Bug's Life: The Molecular Basis of Insect Adaptations

Catalog description

Insects are undoubtedly the most diverse group of animals (with over a million species estimated), and they play a critical role in maintaining ecosystem health. At the same time, they can devastate human societies by spreading disease and destroying crops. People host complex feelings toward insects, as they provoke instinctive fears, despite also playing beneficial societal roles. In this course, we will look at the biological structures underlying myriad insect adaptations, providing us a new framework with which to answer questions such as whether insects feel "pain", why they have a reputation for resilience, and how complex behaviors such as eusociality may have evolved. Students will be primed to examine these questions through introductory overviews of topics in entomology, such as genetics, taxonomy, physiology, taxonomy, behavior, evolutionary biology, and and physiology. We will take short excursions around campus in which students will be taught how to capture insects and craft their own collection, while reconciling our first-hand observations with the primary literature. Through lectures, discussion, and citizen science tools, this course will give students a framework with which to understand and appreciate the insects around them.