Faculty Profile
Scott Boback
Professor of Biology (2007)
Contact Information
Rector North Room 1303
717-245-1799
http://users.dickinson.edu/~bobacks/
Bio
Broadly, I am an animal ecologist with a focus in herpetology (non-avian reptiles and amphibians). I teach courses in ecology, evolution, vertebrate natural history, and physiology. My students and I investigate a variety of organisms in both lab and field settings. Recent projects have included the muscular performance of snakes during constriction, the population ecology of painted turtles, and the evolutionary development of snake jaws.
Education
- B.A., Ripon College, 1991
- M.A., University of Northern Colorado, 1995
- Ph.D., Auburn University, 2005
2024-2025 Academic Year
Fall 2024
BIOL 131 Intro to Org, Pop & Ecosyst
This introductory course spans levels of biological organization from basic multicellular microanatomy to organismal physiology and ecology, as understood through the lens of evolution. Course content will be focused around a specific theme determined by the instructor, and will include evolutionary principles of variation, selection, competition and cooperation, and how their operation at different levels of organization accounts for form and function of organisms, communities, and ecosystems. We will investigate homeostasis, reproduction and development as physiological processes that take place within organisms, and as ecological processes that interact with the environment and generate diversity of form over evolutionary time. Finally we will take stock of the existing forms and levels of biological organization and ask how their relationships establish the biosphere in which we live. Three hours classroom and three hours laboratory a week. This is one of two courses required of all Biology majors before entering the upper level. It is complementary to BIOL 132 – Introduction to Molecules, Genes, and Cells, and the courses may be taken in either order.