3 ECTS credits
75 h study time
Offer 1 with catalog number 4008020FNR for all students in the 2nd semester of odd academic years (e.g. 2013-2014)
at
a (F) Master - specialised level.
- Semester
- biennial: 2nd semester of an odd academic year (e.g. 2013-2014)
- Enrollment based on exam contract
- Impossible
- Grading method
- Grading (scale from 0 to 20)
- Can retake in second session
- Yes
- Taught in
- Dutch
- Faculty
- Faculty of Science and Bio-engineering Sciences
- Department
- Biology
- Educational team
- Guy Smagghe
(course titular)
- Activities and contact hours
-
13 contact hours Lecture
39 contact hours Independent or External Form of Study
- Course Content
- This course on insects emphasises their physical processes with attention to their shape, structure, affinity, physiological
and biochemical as well as endocrinological aspects. A specific process in the life of insects concerns metamorphosis.
This is how butterflies, beetles and flies originate from larval stages. In addition, the ecological relations of insects to the
environment in which they live will be looked at : plant-insect and insect-insect relations.
In another chapter, the use of physiological, biochemical, molecular insights and techniques in the suppression of plague of insects
will be further examined, and it will be possible to analyse the resistance phenomenon .
In each part, the use of models can contribute to a better understanding of the underlying mechanisms which direct the growth
and development of insects. The student should thus be capable of reducing a physiological phenomenon to the
biochemical and dynamical basic processes, and understand the experimental approach which has contributed to this insight.
Furthermore, students' personal input and communication skills are greatly appreciated. This may manifest as a
group discussion/seminar concerning topics that are closer to students' specific interests within the course.
A corporate research will be organised in which, for instance, the growth and culture of insects and the use of helpful insects and transgenic plants in the suppression of harmful plague of insects will be looked at.
Motivation as an optional subject: Currently, there is a lacuna within the curriculum of biology students concerning
insects, which represent an enormous wealth of species within the animal kingdom. This course offers diversity within the curriculum
in terms of anatomy, physiology, biochemistry and ecological aspects of insects. New aspects concerning applications of entomology,
such as the toxicity of classical and modern insecticides on harmless and useful insects, will also be discussed, along with an insight into recent biotechnological techniques for screening (HTS) for new working methods of insecticides within
the (phyto)pharmaceutical world. Attention will also be given to their systematic functioning and application. This,
along with the use of models, is an essential step in the students' rational thinking. Moreover, they will be educated to further insight into the permanent eradication of plague of insects and into the use of natural insects in biological control. The latter aspects offers -apart from those which exist - new, extra opportunities for employment after graduation, within the domain of insects and crop protection (government/Ministry, information, phytopharmaceutical industry, biological-control sector and research facilities, ...)
- Additional info
..
- Learning Outcomes
-
General competencies
..
- Grading
-
The final grade is composed based on the following categories:
Other Exam determines 100% of the final mark.
Within the Other Exam category, the following assignments need to be completed:
- Ander examen
with a relative weight of 1
which comprises 100% of the final mark.
- Additional info regarding evaluation
..
- Allowed unsatisfactory mark
- The supplementary Teaching and Examination Regulations of your faculty stipulate whether an allowed unsatisfactory mark for this programme unit is permitted.
Academic context
This offer is part of the following study plans:
Master of Biology: Ecology and Biodiversity (only offered in Dutch)
Master of Biology: Education (only offered in Dutch)
Master of Biology: Molecular and Cellular Life sciences
Master of Biology: Ecology and Biodiversity
Master of Teaching in Science and Technology: biologie (120 ECTS, Etterbeek) (only offered in Dutch)