There are lots of vertebrates in the animal kingdom. Vertebrates are animals that have a backbone inside their body. The major groups include fish, amphibians, reptiles, birds and mammals.

All vertebrate embryos follow a common developmental path due to their common ancestry. All have a set of very similar genes (the homeobox genes) that define their basic body plan. As they grow ...

PREREQUISITES: BISC 101 and 102. DESCRIPTION: The evolution and taxonomy of vertebrates are reviewed. Characteristics of fish, amphibians, reptiles, birds and mammals are studied to understand the ...

and other chordate animals. Form, function and evolutionary drivers of body systems in vertebrate animals are examined, especially in practical work. Evidence for evolution is emphasised in ...

Figure 2: Relationships among animal phyla and subphyla with direct bearing on the origins of V(D)J recombination in jawed vertebrates. Figure 3: Evolutionary co-option of ancient biological ...

The overarching theme is to explore how changes in the Earth’s climate and vegetation during the last few tens of millions of years have affected key characteristics of vertebrates and ... and we ...