BIOMI 4400

Microbial Evolution & Ecology: Environments to Host

Course Description

Course information provided by the 2026-2027 Catalog.

We live within a microbial world, with microbes providing important functions across ecosystems and having critical impacts on the health of diverse hosts. This course provides an advanced undergraduate and graduate level introduction to how microbes function within ecological communities and how microbes evolve. This will include microbes in environmental habitats and in pathogenic and mutualistic interactions with eukaryotic hosts. Emphasis will be placed on understanding how ecological and evolutionary concepts are applied to microbes and how researchers study these processes. The course will develop conceptual understanding and skills for undergraduate and graduate level research in environmental microbiology, microbial ecology, host-microbe interactions, and microbiome science.

Prerequisites undergraduate introductory biology.

Distribution Requirements (BSC-AG)

Last 4 Terms Offered (None)

Learning Outcomes

• Be able to demonstrate understanding of principles of microbial evolution.
• Be able to demonstrate understanding of fundamental principles of environmental microbiology including community ecology and symbiosis.
• Be able to interpret and critique analytical approaches in microbial evolution and ecology, including phylogenetics, comparative genomics, and molecular evolution.
• Be able to interpret and critically evaluation primary literature in environmental microbiology, microbial ecology, and microbial evolution.

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