Biology: Life's Complexity

This subject builds on students’ prior knowledge of biology and will investigate five core concepts in biology: evolution, structure & function, regulation, transmission of information and interconnectedness. These concepts will be studied at the level of the individual, population, community, ecosystem and biome. Topics include evolution of the diversity of life, and evolution in response to natural and human-induced environmental changes (from antibiotic resistance to climate change); the structure, function and behaviour of organisms and how these change across environmental gradients; energy flow and material cycling through organisms and ecosystems; transmission of genetic, social and cultural information between organisms in a population or community; relationships between individuals, populations, species and their environment, and the processes that shape populations, ecological communities and ecosystems.