An integrated lecture and laboratory course presenting an overview of the variety and ancestry of life on earth. Using representatives from prokaryotes, protists, plants, fungi, and animals, principles of phylogenetic reconstruction are illustrated and evolutionary trends in the life history features, functional morphology, and structural complexity of extant and extinct organisms are presented. Two hours of lecture and three hours of laboratory per week. Prerequisite: BIOL 152 or BIOL 153, or consent of the instructor.