Practical Skills in Biology is an indispensable book for undergraduate students in the life sciences. The book provides useful support at all stages of a degree course and underpins any practical course in biology. It is also a valuable resource for teachers of biology in colleges and secondary schools.
Laboratory and field studies are essential components of undergraduate training in biology; practical work must be fully understood and effectively presented, but many students under-perform because they lack basic laboratory skills. The fifth edition continues to provide students with easy-to-use guidance for laboratory and field studies and broader transferable skills but also offers new material on subjects ranging from environmental investigations to writing a project proposal. It is the ideal text for students to rely on throughout their undergraduate course.
List of Boxes
Preface to fifth edition
Guided Tour
For the Student
Acknowledgements
List of Abbreviations
I: Study and examination skills
1 The importance of transferable skills
2 Managing your time
3 Working with others
4 Taking notes from lectures and texts
5 Learning effectively
6 Revision strategies
7 Assignments and exams
8 Preparing your Curriculum Vitae
II: Information technology and learning resources
9 Finding and citing published information
10 Evaluating information
11 Using online resources
12 Using word processors, databases and other packages
13 Using Spreadsheets
III: Communicating information
14 Organising a poster display
15 Giving a spoken presentation
16 General aspects of scientific writing
17 Writing essays
18 Reporting practical and project work
19 writing literature surveys and reviews
IV: Fundamental laboratory techniques
20 Essentials of practical work
21 Bioethics
22 Health and safety
23 Working with liquids
24 Basic laboratory procedures
25 Principles of solution chemistry
26 pH and buffer solutions
V: The investigative approach
27 The principles of measurement
28 SI units and their use
29 Making observations
30 Drawings and diagrams
31 Basic fieldwork procedures
32 Samples and sampling
33 Scientific method and design of experiments
34 Making notes of practical work
35 Project work
VI: Obtaining and identifying specimens
36 Collecting animals and plants
37 Fixing and preserving animals and plants
38 Collecting and isolating microbes
39 Naming and classifying organisms
40 Identifying plants and animals
41 Identifying microbes
VII: Examining specimens and samples
42 The purpose and practice of dissection
43 Introduction to microscopy
44 Preparing specimens for light microscopy
45 Setting up and using a light microscope
46 Interpreting microscope images
47 Sterile technique
48 Cell culture
49 Working with animal and plant tissues and cells
50 Photography and imaging
51 Measuring growth and responses
52 Fundamentals of chemical analysis
53 Calibration and quantitative measurement
VIII: Environmental investigations
54 Ecological analyses
55 Analysis of aquatic environments
56 Analysis of soil and sediments
57 Measuring atmospheric variables
58 Measuring light
IX: Advanced analytical techniques
59 Immunological methods
60 Enzyme studies
61 Mendelian genetics
62 Molecular biology techniques (add 'Fundamental' at start of title)
63 Stable isotopes and their analysis
64 Radioisotopes and their uses
65 Measuring oxygen content
66 Photosynthesis and respiration
67 Centrifugation
68 Spectroscopic techniques
69 Chromatography
70 Electrophoresis
X: Analysis and presentation of data
71 Manipulating and transforming raw data
72 Using graphs
73 Presenting data in tables
74 Hints for solving numerical problems
75 Descriptive statistics
76 Choosing and using statistical tests
Index
Jonathan Weyers is Director of Quality Assurance at the University of Dundee, UK
Rob Reed is Pro Vice-Chancellor (Learning and Teaching) at CQUniversity, Australia
Allan Jones is Senior Lecturer and Chancellor's Award Fellow in Ecology, Environmental Science and Zoology at the University of Dundee, UK