Biology of the Vertebrates
EEB 2214, Fall 2010
The evolution of form, function,
& diversity of the vertebrates
Meeting Time: Tuesdays and Thursdays, 12:30-1:45 in BSP130
Textbook: Pough F. H., C. M. Janis, and J. B. Heiser. 2009. Vertebrate Life, 8th Edition. Prentice Hall.
Contents
Instructors
Dr. Elizabeth Jockusch
Office: Biology/Pharmacy 305B
Phone: (860) 486-4452
Office hours: Tuesdays, 2-3 pm, and by appointment
Dr. Margaret Rubega
Note: All emails must contain "EEB2214" in the
subject line to avoid being filtered out and deleted
Office: Biology/Pharmacy 500
Phone: (860) 486-4502
Office hours: Thursdays 2-3 pm and by appointment
Elizabeth Timpe (Teaching Assistant)
Office: Biology/Pharmacy 322
Phone: (860) 486-6215
Office hours: Thursdays, 2-3:45 pm (1st half of semester), Tuesdays 2-3:45 pm (2nd half of semester), and by appointment
Grading
Exam 1 = 100 points (25%)
Exam 2 = 100 points (25%)
Exam 3 = 100 points (25%)
Collections Tour = 10 points (2.5%)
Video Project = 90 points (22.5%)
There will be two one-hour, non-cumulative, exams scheduled during the lecture hour. During the final exam period, a third one-hour exam will be given covering only material from the final third of the course.
Course Policies
Missed Exams:
Any student who does not attend an exam and fails to receive permission in advance will receive a 0 for the exam. Approval of any request to miss an exam requires, but is not guaranteed by, verifiable written documentation of the reason.
Academic Integrity:
Plagiarism and cheating are violations of the student conduct code, and may be punished by failure in the course or, in severe cases, dismissal from the University. For more information, see Section IV of the Student Conduct Code available at the web site of the Dean of Students (http://www.dosa.uconn.edu/student_code_partiv.html)
Disabilities:
If you have a disability for which you may be requesting an accommodation, you should contact a course instructor and one of the following offices within the first two weeks of the semester: Center for Students with Disabilities at the Wilbur Cross Building, Room 201 (http://www.csd.uconn.edu)
Help Resources
The secret of success to this course is to not let yourself fall behind. Be sure to fill gaps in your notes and navigate blocks in your understanding as soon as possible. Should you run into trouble with the material, below we have listed some steps for obtaining assistance. While we welcome any and all questions on the material, before you contact us, please first check the resources below to see if your question has already been answered. If/when you do contact us, please understand that we will respond as quickly as we can, but we do have other obligations that might prevent this from happening as urgently as you may need (like 3:00 am the day of an exam...).
FAQ's:
Can I convert this course to honors?
The intent of honors conversion of a non-honors course is to engage a student more deeply in methodology and theory, address more sophisticated questions and problems, and to satisfy more rigorous standards than would otherwise be expected in the course. (see the university policy on Honors Conversions at: http://www.honors.uconn.edu/academics/forms/Conversion%20Form%20-%20Full.pdf). The following are opportunities for converting this course for Honors credit; a limited number of students can accommodated during any single semester, and the usual requirements for Honors Conversions (satisfactory completion of the assigned tasks; a minimum grade in the course of B-) apply. If you wish to receive Honors Conversion credit in the course, you must receive approval from the instructor(s), and YOU are responsible for filling out, securing instructor signatures, and submitting the Honors Scholar Course Conversion and Plan forms to the Honors Office by Sept. 17, 2010.
Vertebrate Research Collection
Supervised by: Susan Hochgraf, Vertebrate Collections Manager
Thursdays ONLY
The Biodiversity Research Collections of the Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology at the University of Connecticut reflect the richness of the world’s biodiversity. The vertebrate holdings consist of dried, frozen and fluid-preserved specimens of fish, reptiles, amphibians, birds and mammals, with a particularly strong emphasis on South American mammals. Students will assist the Vertebrate Collections Manager in curating and maintaining specimens, and the databases by which they are tracked. This activity will expose students to a wide variety of specimens illustrating the concepts and evolutionary history covered in class, and to the methods by which specimens are preserved and stored for research on the evolutionary history and relationships among the major groups of vertebrates. Honors scholars early in their UConn careers may also identify Honors Thesis projects using collections specimens during the course of this work.
Requirements: 12 hours, in time blocks of no less than 2 hours, on Thursdays ONLY. (The collections manager is present only on Thursdays, and students may not work unsupervised.)
Vertebrate Biology in the News
Supervised by: Elizabeth Timpe (TA), with oversight from Dr. Rubega and Dr. Jockusch
The organisms and evolutionary history we provide an overview of in class surround us; evidence of this ubiquity is found in a steady stream of news stories about the discovery of new species, the latest research on dinosaurs, and medical news (e.g., the susceptibility of humans to disease originating in other mammals). Students will search major news outlets (e.g., The New York Times, Washington Post), either online or via print or other media for stories related to the conceptual and factual material we are learning in class. Students will provide links to the relevant materials (news stories, videos, podcasts, web pages are all acceptable formats; others may also be acceptable, subject to review by the instructors/TA), which the TA will post to a special section of the class website. This activity will engage the student in a wider search for supporting and background materials for the course, highlight the day-to-day relevance of the factual and conceptual course content, teach the students to identify reputable sources, and provide enrichment for the class as a whole.
Requirements: A MINIMUM of one news item (submitted to the TA in the form of a web link or PDF) per week, starting from the second week of classes, through the last week of classes (but not finals week). News items must be turned in once per week; a collection of 14 items submitted in the last week of classes is not acceptable. Students may turn in more than a single item in a given week, but they may not “bank” news items in advance. Students are responsible for identifying and using reputable and accurate sources: thus, a YouTube video is allowable, if the instructors or TA find that the material within is accurate, but will be rejected if it contains significant inaccuracies.
Study Materials:
Review Sessions:
Links to External Resources:
- DigiMorph - Excellent source of 2 & 3D images of internal & external structures of various organisms
- ARKive - a unique collection of thousands of wildlife videos, images and fact-files, with a special focus on the world's threatened species
Vertebrates in the News
Lecture Schedule & Materials
| Date | Topic | Readings | Supplemental materials | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Part I: Aug 31 - Oct 14, Dr. Elizabeth Jockusch | ||||
| Aug 31 | Vertebrate Diversity | --------- | ||
| Sept 2 | Chordate and Vertebrate Origins | Ch. 1, 2 | ||
| Sept 7 | Living Jawless Vertebrates | Ch. 3 | ||
| Sept 9 | Early Vertebrate Fossils | Ch. 3 | ||
| Sept 14 | Chondrichthyans | Ch. 5 | ||
| Sept 16 | Actinopterygians | Ch. 6 | ||
| Sept 21 | Fish Conservation | --------- | ||
| Sept 23 | Sarcopterygii and Evolution of Tetrapods | Ch. 9 (pp. 196-211) | ||
| Sept 28 | Amphibian Diversity and Decline | Ch. 10 | ||
| Sept 30 | EXAM 1 | --------- | ||
| Oct 5 | Amphibian Life Histories | Ch. 10 | ||
| Oct 7 | Amniote Origins | Ch. 9 (pp. 211-218) | ||
| Oct 12 | Amniote Diversity / desert adaptations | Ch. 13 | ||
| Oct 14 | Evolution of Snakes | Ch. 13 (pp. 339-349) | ||
| Part II: Oct 19 - Dec 16, Dr. Margaret Rubega | ||||
| Oct 19 | Turtles | Ch. 12 | ||
| Oct 21 | Turtles continued, and Archosaurs | Ch. 16 | ||
| Oct 26 | Crocodilians and Friends | Ch. 16 | ||
| Oct 28 | Dinosaurs and Other Mesosoic Diapsids | Ch. 16 | ||
| Nov 2 | EXAM 2 | --------- | ||
| Nov 4 | Dinosaurs II | Ch. 16 | ||
| Nov 9 | Birds: Avian Origins | Ch. 16 (pp. 439-443) | ||
| Nov 11 | Birds: Feeding | Ch. 17 | ||
| Nov 16 | Birds: Morphology and Reproduction | Ch. 17 | ||
| Nov 18 | Mammals: Origins and Radiation Video Project Due |
Ch. 18 | ||
| Nov 30 | Mammals: Primate Evolution and Human Diversity | Ch. 24 | ||
| Dec 2 | Mammals: Diversity | Ch. 20 | ||
| Dec. 7 | Mammals: Morphology and Behavior | Ch. 21 | ||
| Dec 9 | Vertebrate Mass Extinctions, Past and Present | Ch. 25 | ||
| Dec 16 | EXAM 3 (FINAL) 10:30 am-12:30 pm (TENTATIVE) | --------- |
