Program Details : University Catalogs : University of Minnesota

ENT 1005 - Insect Biology with Lab (BIOL)

Credits:	4.0 [max 4.0]
Course Equivalencies:	Ent 1004/Ent 1005
Grading Basis:	A-F only
Typically offered:	Every Fall & Spring

Insects represent one of the most abundant and diverse life forms on Earth, and their environmental importance is displayed across both terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems. Beyond environmental importance, insects shape human society through their impact on our health, the pollination of our food crops, and damage to our commodities and homes. Insect Biology is an introductory entomology course on the biology and ecology of insects, their classification, and their interactions with the environment and human society. This course will provide background on insect diversity and physiology while providing insight into how scientists examine the roles of insects in medicine, agriculture, advances in genetics, and ecology. These topics will provide fundamental biological knowledge needed to make informed decisions about insect-related topics in a global society.

ENT 1001 - How Insects Shape Society: Pollinators, Pests, and Policy (CIV)

Credits:	3.0 [max 3.0]
Grading Basis:	A-F only
Typically offered:	Every Fall

Do you eat genetically modified foods, or do you avoid them? Vaccinate, or do not vaccinate? Did you know these are in part insect related questions? Insects make up more than half of the living organisms on this planet, and they have had a profound impact in shaping human society and culture. Even so, insects are swatted, stomped, squished, and otherwise misunderstood. In this course students will explore the complex, and often uncomfortable, relationships between insects and humans and explore the ethical dilemmas posed by our close relationships with the insect world. Ultimately this course examines the interactions between insects and humans, focusing on contemporary topics that explore how insects dictate human actions, policies, and behaviors. Topics include: human perception of insects; basic concepts in insect biology and behavior; environmental and cultural importance of insects; the role of insect pests in determining human food choice; insect vectors and disease transmission; perception and awareness about humanity?s role in nature.

ENT 1906 - Magnificent, Miniature Minds: From Dancing Honeybees to Cyborgs

Credits:	3.0 [max 3.0]
Grading Basis:	A-F only
Typically offered:	Periodic Fall

Did you know that honeybees can be trained to recognize human faces or that desert ants can count their steps while walking? Have you ever thought about how an octopus ?knows? how to match its body coloration to its marine environment and a monarch butterfly can find its over-wintering site located thousands of miles away? These are just a few examples of the extraordinary abilities that invertebrate animals display, reflecting the mighty power of their miniature brains and nervous systems. In this course, we will discuss the fascinating behaviors of animals with miniature brains and how their numerally-limited nervous systems enable them to do what they do. We will also explore how a deeper understanding of small-brain networks can inform us about how our own brains work, and how such knowledge can be used to engineer adaptive robots, cyborgs and smart machines. This course is designed to be integrative?including disciplines intersecting with animal behavior, entomology, evolution, ecology, neuroscience, psychology and bioengineering. A major goal of this course is to widen one?s view of the importance of invertebrate animals in the field of neuroscience and gain an appreciation of the translational impact that this knowledge can have and will continue to have on our society and daily lives. Students will also be introduced to basic concepts in neurobiology and learn how small neural networks operate.

ENT 1909 - Got Bees? Declines and Conservation of Honey bees and Native bees (ENV)

Credits:	3.0 [max 3.0]
Grading Basis:	A-F only
Typically offered:	Periodic Fall

Humans are largely aware that bees are declining globally, due in large part to human land use, agricultural practices, and the changing climate. The loss of insect pollinators, including native and honeybees, presents a grand challenge that will have cascading effects throughout ecological systems and human food crop systems. Preservation of pollination services is not only an environmental issue, it is also an important challenge facing our society and world. How we, as a society, choose to address this problem will reflect on how we value the environment and the services it provides. This course is designed to reflect on the shared sense of responsibility for building a community that will address this issue. Intended audience: Undergraduates who may or may not be majoring within the sciences. Students interested in how humans interact with the environment, and how the choices we make as a society impact environmental processes. No prerequisite courses required.

ENT 2884 - The Six-legged Conquerors: How insects have shaped human history (HIS)

Credits:	3.0 [max 3.0]
Grading Basis:	A-F or Aud
Typically offered:	Every Spring

Insects have had an immense yet underappreciated impact on the course of human history and civilization. Through their effects as carriers of disease, insects have decided the outcomes of numerous battles and wars, often causing many more deaths than weapons did. On the other hand, beneficial insects have made important contributions to the development of many industries, in particular related to textiles and agriculture, and they also serve as important sources of food in many cultures. Because of their varied and important roles in human life and well-being, insects feature prominently in sacred texts and have thus influenced spiritual and religious thought through the ages. And from Greek times until the present, insects have contributed greatly to the development of scientific thought. Many of the great naturalists throughout history ? from Aristotle to Darwin to EO Wilson ? have had an inordinate fascination with insects. In the second half of the 20th century and beyond, insects sparked the environmental movement, serve as models for innovating technologies such as robots, and continue to shape our lives in fascinating, challenging and novel ways. In this class we will discuss the major ways in which the fates of humans and insects have been intertwined over the course of human history. Throughout the class we focus on ways that historical inquiry can be used to elucidate entomological questions and, conversely, how entomological knowledge can be brought to bear to solve historical mysteries.

ENT 3021 - Insect Biodiversity and Evolution

Credits:	4.0 [max 4.0]
Course Equivalencies:	Ent 3021/Ent 5021
Grading Basis:	A-F only
Typically offered:	Every Fall

Insects are the most diverse group of organisms on Earth with almost 1 million described species. Millions more remain to be described, especially in tropical regions of the world. Insects come in a remarkable array of sizes, colors, and shapes. Taxonomists use this morphological complexity as the primary means of identifying insects, but also for inferring evolutionary relationships. In this course, we will learn how to identify insects, explore methods of collection and curation of insects, discuss their evolutionary relationships, see how insects fit in the natural world, and discuss exciting new efforts to inventory, describe, and conserve the remarkable diversity of insects.

ENT 3211 - Insect Pest Management

Credits:	3.0 [max 3.0]
Course Equivalencies:	Ent 3211/Ent 5211
Grading Basis:	A-F only
Typically offered:	Every Spring

Management of Insect Pests is designed for upper division undergraduates in any major or minor. The course will emphasize principles of insect pest management and draw from examples related to agricultural, horticultural and landscape and urban systems. Conventional (nonorganic) and organic approaches, the use of social media and modern technology, and economic, environmental and social consequences of diverse tactics (chemical, cultural, biological, genetic, etc.) will be covered by the Instructor and, on occasion, by guest lecturers. Student debates on pesticide-pollinator and genetic engineering issues will provide real-world context and insights on complexities of insect pest prevention and management.

ENT 3275 - Insect-transmitted diseases of humans

Credits:	3.0 [max 3.0]
Course Equivalencies:	Ent 3275/Ent 5275
Typically offered:	Every Spring

What?s so attractive about human blood? How have human interactions with insects evolved? Insects and ticks transmit viral, bacterial, protozoan and filarial diseases to humans, particularly in tropical countries. Zika, most recently, and also dengue and other mosquito-borne viruses pose an emerging challenge in the southern US as climate change increases the range of important vector species. Lyme disease and other tick-borne diseases are increasing in the US, and pose challenges in diagnosis and treatment. This course covers contemporary topics in "Medical Entomology" that will provide an overview of arthropod-borne disease and its impacts on global health from the perspective of insect vectors and microbial pathogens. Students will explore historical, contemporary and epidemiologic stories demonstrating exposure and control strategies via lecture, student discussions, laboratory demonstrations, and critical review of current best practices in medical entomology. This course is designed for upper division undergraduate and graduate students in any major or minor.

ENT 3294 - Directed Research in Entomology

Credits:	1.0 -4.0 [max 6.0]
Typically offered:	Every Fall, Spring & Summer

An opportunity in which a student designs and carries out a directed research project under the direction of a faculty member. Directed research may be taken for variable credit and special permission is needed for enrollment. Students enrolling in a directed research course will be required to use the University-wide online directed research contract process in order to enroll. prereq: department consent, instructor consent, no more than 6 credits of directed research counts towards CFANS major requirements.

ENT 3341 - Biological control of insect pests and weeds

Credits:	3.0 [max 4.0]
Course Equivalencies:	Ent 3341/Ent 5341
Grading Basis:	A-F or Aud
Typically offered:	Every Fall & Spring

Biological control is the suppression of pests and weeds using living organisms. It involves fascinating interactions between organisms such as plants and herbivores, and insects and the predators and parasitoids that attack them. These interactions can provide spectacular protection from invasive species but risks to the environment are possible as well so biological control interventions must be undertaken with great care. We will explore these interactions and interventions in depth in this class.

ENT 4021 - Honey Bees and Insect Societies

Credits:	3.0 [max 3.0]
Typically offered:	Fall Odd Year

Natural history, identification, and behavior of honey bees and other social insects. Evolution of social behavior, pheromones and communication, organization and division of labor, social parasitism. Lab with honey bee management and maintenance of other social bees for pollination. prereq: Biol 1009 or instr consent

ENT 4251 - Forest and Shade Tree Entomology

Credits:	3.0 [max 3.0]
Typically offered:	Every Fall

Biology, ecology, population management of forest/shade tree insects. Emphasizes predisposing factors/integrated management. Lecture/lab.

ENT 5011 - Insect Structure and Function

Credits:	4.0 [max 4.0]
Grading Basis:	A-F or Aud
Typically offered:	Every Spring

Comparative study of insect structures/functions from evolutionary perspective. Introduction to physiology of digestion, respiration, other organ systems. prereq: 3005 or instr consent

ENT 5021 - Insect Biodiversity and Evolution

Credits:	4.0 [max 4.0]
Course Equivalencies:	Ent 3021/Ent 5021
Typically offered:	Every Fall

Insects are the most diverse group of organisms on Earth with almost 1 million described species. Millions more remain to be described, especially in tropical regions of the world. Insects come in a remarkable array of sizes, colors, and shapes. Taxonomists use this morphological complexity as the primary means of identifying insects, but also for inferring evolutionary relationships. In this course, we will learn how to identify insects, explore methods of collection and curation of insects, discuss their evolutionary relationships, see how insects fit in the natural world, and discuss exciting new efforts to inventory, describe, and conserve the remarkable diversity of insects.

ENT 5041 - Insect Ecology

Credits:	3.0 [max 3.0]
Typically offered:	Fall Even Year

Synthetic analysis of the causes of insect diversity and of fluctuations in insect abundance. Focus on abiotic, biotic, and evolutionary mechanisms influencing insect populations and communities.

ENT 5126 - Spatial and Temporal Analysis of Ecological Data

Credits:	3.0 [max 6.0]
Grading Basis:	A-F or Aud
Typically offered:	Spring Even Year

This course covers linear models (regression and ANOVA) and extensions to temporal data and spatial point processes, lattice/areal data, and geostatistics. The course bridges sufficient theory to understand why contending with spatiotemporal dependence is important with enough application to make students confident in their own data analyses.

ENT 5211 - Insect Pest Management

Credits:	3.0 [max 3.0]
Course Equivalencies:	Ent 3211/Ent 5211
Typically offered:	Every Spring

Insect Pest Management is designed for graduate students in any major or minor. The course will emphasize principles of insect pest management and draw from examples related to agricultural, horticultural and landscape, and urban systems. Conventional (nonorganic) and organic approaches, the use of social media and modern technology, and economic, environmental, and social consequences of diverse tactics (chemical, cultural, biological, genetic, etc.) will be covered by the instructor and, on occasion, by guest lecturers. Student debates on pesticide-pollinator and genetic engineering issues will provide real-world context and insights on complexities of insect pest prevention and management.

ENT 5275 - Insect-transmitted diseases of humans

Credits:	3.0 [max 3.0]
Course Equivalencies:	Ent 3275/Ent 5275
Typically offered:	Every Spring

What?s so attractive about human blood? How have human interactions with insects evolved? Insects and ticks transmit viral, bacterial, protozoan and filarial diseases to humans, particularly in tropical countries. Zika, most recently, and also dengue and other mosquito-borne viruses pose an emerging challenge in the southern US as climate change increases the range of important vector species. Lyme disease and other tick-borne diseases are increasing in the US, and pose challenges in diagnosis and treatment. This course covers contemporary topics in "Medical Entomology" that will provide an overview of arthropod-borne disease and its impacts on global health from the perspective of insect vectors and microbial pathogens. Students will explore historical, contemporary and epidemiologic stories demonstrating exposure and control strategies via lecture, student discussions, laboratory demonstrations, and critical review of current best practices in medical entomology. This course is designed for upper division undergraduate and graduate students in any major or minor.

ENT 5341 - Biological Control of Insects and Weeds

Credits:	3.0 [max 4.0]
Course Equivalencies:	Ent 3341/Ent 5341
Typically offered:	Every Spring

Biological control is the suppression of pests and weeds using living organisms. It involves fascinating interactions between organisms such as plants and herbivores, and insects and the predators and parasitoids that attack them. These interactions can provide spectacular protection from invasive species but risks to the environment are possible as well so biological control interventions must be undertaken with great care. We will explore these interactions and interventions in depth in this class. The class is online.

ENT 5481 - Invertebrate Neurobiology

Credits:	2.0 [max 3.0]
Typically offered:	Every Spring

The study of invertebrate animals, such as honey bees, sea slugs, and fruit flies, have been instrumental in informing us humans about how our own brains operate. In addition, the ability of some invertebrate animals to sense certain stimuli beyond what humans can detect, has enabled scientists to build smart machines and robots with extraordinary capabilities. Since 80% of the world?s species are insects, understanding the basics of how their nervous systems function will enable societies to better manage their health (e.g., helping insect pollinators) or combat their destruction (e.g., preventing locust plagues). Invertebrate Neurobiology is a course that will explore the underlying neural mechanisms that enable animals to solve or respond to particular problems encountered in their natural environments. Many of the invertebrate animals presented will not only exhibit interesting behaviors, but will reveal important and often conserved principles of neuroscience applicable to a host of animals, including us humans. This course is designed to be integrative ? including disciplines intersecting with animal behavior, entomology, evolution, ecology, neuroscience, psychology, and bioengineering. A major goal of this course is to widen one?s view of the importance of invertebrate animals in the field of neuroscience and gain an appreciation of the translational impact that this knowledge can have and will continue to have on our society and daily lives. Students will also be introduced to important concepts in neurobiology and learn how small neural networks operate.

CFAN 2333 - Insects, Microbes, and Plants: Ecology of Pest Management (TS)

Credits:	3.0 [max 3.0]
Grading Basis:	A-F only
Typically offered:	Every Fall

This course uses fundamental concepts of ecology and evolution to illuminate and solve the challenges in managing insects and microbes in today's global context of food and fiber production. Students will learn relevant aspects of insect and microbial biology to be able to situate concrete management problems in an appropriate ecological and evolutionary conceptual framework. Students will apply these concepts and discuss ecological and management controversies, such as what can we learn from natural areas to better manage food and fiber production systems. Case studies, readings, and discussion topics will emphasize factors influencing responsible management decisions.

CFAN 3334 - Parasites and Pestilence (GP)

Credits:	3.0 [max 3.0]
Grading Basis:	A-F or Aud
Typically offered:	Periodic Fall & Spring

This course is designed to provide students with a basic understanding of protozoan and metazoan parasites, focusing on the biology and epidemiology of parasitic diseases and on the parasite-host association. Parasites are explored in the context of transmission, associated disease, diagnosis and treatment options; and environmental, cultural, and socioeconomic drivers of disease epidemiology. The intent of this course is for students to see science as a tool for understanding the world and solving problems. Importantly, the course is not designed to promote skills to become a practicing parasitologist but rather aims to facilitate broad exposure to infectious disease dynamics to foster more informed global citizens?using parasitic diseases as examples. A key tenet of liberal education is that it does not ignore the sciences, as such topics are explored in a way that intertwines science, history, and politics. Liberal education also teaches students how to speak their mind, how to write, and how to learn. As a result, this course will teach students how to use fundamental biological principles to think critically about challenges facing their society and the world.

University Catalogs

Insect Science Minor