Animal Biology and Systematics

The objectives of the teaching are to provide basic knowledge on animal organisms related to functional biology, evolutionary biology, biodiversity, systematics and phylogeny. In particular, the teaching aims to provide students with appropriate competences and notions related to unitarity and complexity of animal life, structural and functional adaptations correlated to different environments, evolutionary history and phylogenetic relationships among animal groups, as well as to zoological terminology. Finally, a further educational goal is to provide methodological skills related to identification of taxa, sampling and collection techniques, comparative analysis of macro- and microscopic anatomy and employment of specific instruments.

At the end of the teaching the student should have acquired an appropriate basic knowledge of animal organisms and be able to employ the related terminology and to use specific methodological skills (identification of animal taxa, sampling and collection techniques, comparative analysis of macro and microscopic anatomy). In particular, the activities that will define the development of these skills are represented by the extensive employment of real life documents presented during lectures and more specifically by practical labs that will allow the student to also acquire an indispensable manual skill for progressing in his university and professional career.