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DEGREE REGULATIONS & PROGRAMMES OF STUDY 2016/2017

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DRPS : Course Catalogue : School of Biological Sciences : Zoology

Undergraduate Course: Evolution and Ecology of Ageing (ZLGY10029)

Course Outline
SchoolSchool of Biological Sciences CollegeCollege of Science and Engineering
Credit level (Normal year taken)SCQF Level 10 (Year 4 Undergraduate) AvailabilityNot available to visiting students
SCQF Credits10 ECTS Credits5
SummaryAgeing is one of the most complex and variable of biological processes. Understanding its causes and consequences is one of the central challenges currently facing by biologists and biomedics. Evolutionary theory provides a unifying framework with which to study and understand ageing. This course will offer students a brief overview of the challenge that ageing poses to modern human society, and recent developments in our understanding of the causes and consequences of ageing from mechanism-oriented laboratory studies and demography. We will then discuss in detail evolutionary theories of ageing, which can explain both near universality of the phenomenon of ageing and the great diversity of ageing rates across plant and animal species. From there we will move onto more specific lectures relating to important topics in the evolutionary study of ageing, including comparative studies of ageing, studies of ageing in wild animals, how and why the sexes differ in ageing rates, and the effects of social interactions on the ageing process. We aim to provide students with an up-to-date understanding of how evolutionary thinking is shaping our understanding of the ageing process.
Course description The course is based around 10-12 lectures, but will also involve group discussion sessions centred on salient topics covered in these lectures and in-course assessment based on critical reading of papers from the primary literature which each student will be assigned.
Entry Requirements (not applicable to Visiting Students)
Pre-requisites Co-requisites
Prohibited Combinations Other requirements None
Additional Costs No
Course Delivery Information
Academic year 2016/17, Not available to visiting students (SS1) Quota:  30
Course Start Semester 1
Course Start Date 19/09/2016
Timetable Timetable
Learning and Teaching activities (Further Info) Total Hours: 100 ( Programme Level Learning and Teaching Hours 2, Directed Learning and Independent Learning Hours 98 )
Assessment (Further Info) Written Exam 60 %, Coursework 40 %, Practical Exam 0 %
Additional Information (Assessment) 2hr exam written exam and essay, weighting 60% exam, 40% essay
Feedback Not entered
Exam Information
Exam Diet Paper Name Hours & Minutes
Main Exam Diet S1 (December)Evolution and Ecoogy of Ageing2:00
Learning Outcomes
Detailed learning outcomes will be provided later
Reading List
None
Additional Information
Graduate Attributes and Skills Not entered
KeywordsNot entered
Contacts
Course organiserDr Jacob Moorad
Tel: (0131 6)50 5442
Email: Jacob.Moorad@ed.ac.uk
Course secretaryMiss Rachel Law
Tel: (0131 6)51 3689
Email: Rachel.Law@ed.ac.uk
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