BIOL-6A: Biological Form & Function

BIOL 6A: Biological Form & Function

• Class Syllabus
• Winter 2025 Class Schedule

Go below to:

• • Lecture Slides
  • Lab Manual
  • Lab-Lecture Notes
  • Lab Resources

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Lecture Slides

• B6A-1: Introduction
• B6A-2: Taxonomy & Systematics
• B6A-3: Cell Cycles & Life Cycles
• B6A-4: Plant Development & Tissues
• B6A-5: Transport & Exchange Processes in Vascular Plants
• B6A-6: Gas Exchange in Animals
• B6A-7: Circulatory Systems
• B6A-8: Animal Development & Tissues
• B6A-9: Homeostasis & Thermoregulation
• B6A-10: Feeding & Digestion
• B6A-11: Osmoregulation & Excretion
• B6A-12: Communication & Coordination of Body Functions
• B6A-12B: Neuron Regulation
• B6A-13: Sensory Systems
• B6A-14: Muscles & Skeletons
• B6A-15: Animal Reproduction

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Lab Manual

• BIOL-6A Lab Manual - 2025 edition
  • Microscope Care Guidelines
  • Lab Waste Disposal Guidelines

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Lab-Lecture Notes

• A. Sci Method
• A2. Microscopy & Microbes
  • Specimen slides to accompany the Microbes & Microscopy Lab Exercise
    • Microorganisms

• B. Systematics & Cladistics
• C. Plants
  • Specimen slides to accompany the Lab Manual
    • Plants I
    • Plants II
    • Plants III
    • Plants IV
• SE-1: Study Exercise — Gas Physics & Diving Physiology
• D. Fungi
  • Specimen slides to accompany the Lab Manual
    • Fungi
      • • Deep Look, KQED and PBS Digital Studios
          
          • This Mushroom Fakes Its Own Death To Trick Flies
          • This Killer Fungus Turns Flies into Zombies

LxV1 - Vocabulary list for the Plant & Fungi Quiz

• E1. Animalia - pt. 1
  • Specimen slides to accompany the Lab Manual
    • Animals I
  • • • • excerpts from The Shape of Life, Sea Studios Foundation
          • Porifera (sponges)
          • Cnidaria
        • Deep Look, KQED and PBS Digital Studios
          • The Undying Hydra: A Freshwater Mini-Monster That Defies Aging
        • Squidtoons
          • Anatomy of the Moon Jelly
          • Anatomy of the Coral Polyp
• E2. Animalia - pt. 2
  • Specimen slides to accompany the Lab Manual
    • Animals II
      • • excerpts from The Shape of Life, Sea Studios Foundation
          • Platyhelminthyes (flatworms)
          • Annelida (segmented worms)
        • Deep Look, KQED and PBS Digital Studios
          • Want a Whole New Body? Ask This Flatworm How
          • Earthworm Love is Cuddly ... and Complicated
• E3. Animalia - pt. 3
  • Specimen slides to accompany the Lab Manual
    • Animals III
  • • • • excerpts from The Shape of Life, Sea Studios Foundation
          • Mollusca
          • Arthropoda — marine
          • Echinodermata
        • Deep Look, KQED and PBS Digital Studios
          
          • Watch These Cunning Snails Stab and Swallow Fish Whole
          • You're Not Hallucinating... That's Just Squid Skin
          • This Adorable Sea Slug is a Sneaky Little Thief
          • If Your Hands Could Smell, You’d Be an Octopus
          • Barnacles Go To Unbelievable Lengths To Hook Up
          • Sea Urchins Pull Themselves Inside Out to be Reborn
        • Squidtoons
          • Anatomy of the Market Squid
          • Market squid embryos
• F. Bugs
  • Specimen slides to accompany the Lab Manual
    • Animals IV
  • • • • excerpts from The Shape of Life, Sea Studios Foundation
          • Arthropoda — terrestrial
        • Deep Look, KQED and PBS Digital Studios
          • Born Pregnant: Aphids Invade with an Onslaught of Clones
          • Don't Go Chasing Water Bugs
          • Why Is The Very Hungry Caterpillar So Dang Hungry?
          • How Mosquitoes Use Six Needles to Suck Your Blood
          • Sticky. Stretchy. Waterproof. The Amazing Underwater Tape of the Caddisfly
• LxV2 – Vocabulary List for the Invertebrate Animal Quiz

• SE-2: Study Exercise — Kidney Function & Osmoregulation
  • SE-2 graph — graphs of osmoregulation in human kidney

• G. Chordates
  • Specimen slides to accompany the Lab Manual
    • Animals V
• H. Fishes
  • • • • Deep Look, KQED and PBS Digital Studios
          • Have You Met a Hagfish? It's About Slime
        • Squidtoons
          • Anatomy of the Pacific Hagfish
          • Anatomy of the Bluefin Tuna
          • Anatomy of the Swell Shark
• LxV3 – Vocabulary List for the Vertebrate Animal Quiz
  
• SE-3: Study Exercise — Sensory–Motor
  • • Nervous Systems & Reflexes

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Lab Supplements & Resources

• Heyer Education Lab Specimen Tutorial - created by Simon Siu
• Bone Lab with Professor Heyer

Christine & Rebecca's Dissection Guides (De Anza):

• Squid
• Fetal Pig
  • Key

Dissection videos:

• Professor Heyer's BIOL 6A Shark Dissection
• Monte Vista Biology Guide to a Fetal Pig Dissection

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Organismal Biology Instructional Media

• University of Alberta, Department of Biology instructional multimedia
  (animations and quizzes; require Adobe Flash emulator, such as Ruffle.)
  • Biology History Quiz!
  • Microscope Basics
  • How to make a Wet Mount
  • Plant Cell - mix and match
  • The Fern Life Cycle
  • Parts of the Flowering Plant
  • Transport in Plants
  • Life Cycle of Seed Plants
  • Angiosperm Life Cycle
  • Animal Cells
  • Structure and Function of Sponges
  • Sinusoidal Locomotion in Worms
  • Peristalsis Locomotion in Worms
  • Protonephridia and Metanephridia
  • Life Cycle of Obelia (phylum Cnidaria; class Hydrozoa)
  • Life Cycle of a jellyfish (phylum Cnidaria; class Scyphozoa)
  • Water Flow and Feeding in Filibranch Bivalve (mussel)
  • Water Flow and Feeding in Eulamellibranch Bivalve (clam)
  • Squid Locomotion
  • Crustacean Claw Form and Function
  • Form and Feeding of Sea Urchins
  • Tunicate Anatomy and Feeding (Sea Squirt)
  • Animal Taxonomy Quiz!

•  excerpts from The Shape of Life, Sea Studios Foundation, 2001
  (videos and animations)
  
  • Porifera (sponges)
  • Cnidaria
  • Platyhelminthyes (flatworms)
  • Annelida (segmented worms)
  • Mollusca
  • Arthropoda — marine
  • Arthropoda — terrestrial
  • Echinodermata