Biology

BIOL6000	Graduate Student Seminar	3 ch
This required course is composed of weekly in-person or virtual seminars presented by researchers working in fields related to marine biology, coastal science, general biology, and other relevant fields who will present on topical issues in scientific research and communication. MSc students must enroll in BIOL 6000 each Fall and Winter term it is offered until they have either completed four terms (to the satisfaction of the BIOL 6000 coordinator) or completed their degree (whichever occurs sooner). PhD students must enroll in BIOL 6000 each Fall and Winter term it is offered until they have completed at least six terms (to the satisfaction of the BIOL 6000 coordinator) and also given a BIOL 6000 research seminar (usually in the third year of their degree).

BIOL6003	Graduate Student Seminar (F)	3 ch
This course provides practice and instruction in oral exposition skills. Students will present research background and proposal information, and research results and discussion material, receiving constructive feedback from the instructor and classmates. This course is open to MSc and PhD students.

BIOL6103	Graduate Student Seminar (PhD) (F)	3 ch
PhD students are required to present two Biology 6103 seminars. The seminars for one of the PhD seminars must not be directly related to thesis work. Generally, PhD students will give their seminars in years two and three of their studies.

BIOL6149	Directed Studies in Biology	3 ch
Course Desc

BIOL6393	Trophic and Food Web Ecology	3 ch
This course explores the diverse trophic ecologies observed in terrestrial, freshwater and marine consumers, and how these ecologies interact to form complex food webs in each biome. Students will learn how to measure consumer niche width, trophic interactions and food web structure using consumer diet, stable isotope ratios and essential fatty acid profiles. Finally, the course examines the effects of environmental stressors such as climate change, biological invasions and land use on food web structure. Enrolling students must be undertaking a project relevant to the course. The graduate version of this course will use the same structure as the undergraduate version (BIOL4393), with an additional term paper set by the instructor worth 24% of the final mark. Limited enrolment, permission of instruction required. Students who have completed BIOL4393 are not eligible to take BIOL6393.

BIOL6463	Scientific Writing	3 ch
A workshop and project-oriented course in scientific writing. The primary focus is on writing the journal paper. Enrolling students must have a research project with data advanced enough to be written up as part of the course activity, and must be able to share drafts with classmates. The graduate version of this course will use the same structure and assignments as the undergraduate, but performance will be expected commensurate with experience. Limited enrolment; permission of instruction required.

BIOL6523	Phylogenetics	2 ch+3Labs= 5ch
Methods for inferring evolutionary trees and their applications to the fields of comparative biology, molecular evolution, and systematics. Topics to be covered include sequence alignment, phylogenetic inference, ancestral character state reconstruction, comparative methods, and molecular adaptation. Labs emphasized practical experience in data analysis. Prerequisites: BIOL 2013, BIOL 2018, BIOL 2263, and BIOL 2268 or equivalents, or permission of the instructor. Credit cannot be obtained for both BIOL 4523 and BIOL 6523.

BIOL6997	MSc Thesis	cr
Course Desc

BIOL6998	PhD Thesis	cr
Course Desc