Content Objectives
The unit will be implemented at the beginning of the year when I start with the Requirements of Life and Cell Biology. This unit will provide a survey of the disease malaria and how it affects human health and physiology. Plasmodium and Anopheles will be covered as they pertain to how the parasite and vector affect humans at the cellular and organismal levels. Investigation and experimentation standards will be interspersed throughout the unit. Ecology and the Environment pertain to the habitat of requirements of the mosquito vector and correlate to the distribution of the disease. Evolution lends itself to this unit as life adapts to changing conditions and species evolve. We will focus on the mechanisms involved in climate change, ecological responses to climate change, the niche of the Anopheles mosquito. Many of my students have family members from other countries that are in these affected regions, including Central America, South America and Asia.
The scientific consensus is that the climate is changing, and it appears to be affecting ecosystems, there by affecting rates of malaria.4
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