COURSE DESCRIPTION
Class
meetings:
Period 2 MWF (8:00-8:50AM)
Laboratory meeting:
Periods D-E Th (3:00-5:30 PM)
Textbook:
Animal Behavior: An Evolutionary Approach (10th Ed.) by
John Alcock. 2013. Sinauer.
Laboratory manual: http://pierce.wesleyancollege.edu/faculty/brhoades/courses/Bio315manual/labguide.html
Course
description and objectives:
Animal
Behavior is a four credit hour course with a laboratory
component. It is intended to familiarize you with the
perspectives, theories, and methods of the biological study of
behavior. This is an upper-level Biology course intended
primarily for students majoring or minoring in Biology or
Neuroscience.
In completing this course the
student should:
1) be able to summarize the
historical perspectives and modern fields of study which
contribute to ethology,
2) demonstrate fluency with
the terms and theoretical constructs of modern ethology,
3) be able to construct and
evaluate a prediction matrix for both proximate and ultimate
causes any reasonable example of animal behavior,
3) demonstrate competency
with some of the diverse methodologies used in the observational
and experimental study of animal behavior,
4) apply and interpret
simulations in ethology, evolution, and behavioral ecology,
5) design, conduct, and
report on a simple observational or experimental study in
ethology,
6) read, evaluate and lead discussions on articles in the primary ethological research
literature, and
7) produce a properly
researched and referenced scholarly review of a tightly defined
topic in modern ethology.
Course
Content:
The biological study of behavior, a.k.a. ethology, has
historical roots in both zoology and comparative psychology. It
concerns itself with the morphological apparatus for behaviors,
the physiological mechanisms which generate and control
behaviors, the immediate environmental conditions and stimuli
which elicit or "occasion" behaviors, the ecological contexts in
which behavior occurs, the ontogeny of behavior patterns in the
individual, and the evolutionary development of the behaviors of
the species. The central unifying theory for ethology is the
same as that for biology itself, namely evolutionary theory. In
this class we will use evolutionary theory and what is known of
evolutionary history as a context for all of our treatments of
animal behavior.
The course
begins with an introduction to ethology, especially its
historical roots and unique perspectives on animal behavior. We
will discuss classical ethological questions, explanatory
constructs, and methodology. We will study approaches to
establishing "proximate" behavioral causes, including behavioral
genetics, behavioral ontogeny, and neuroethology. We will
discuss evolutionary theory as a basis for revealing "ultimate"
causes of behavior. We will conclude with a survey of
behavioral classes, focusing on behavioral adaptations to
ecological demands. During most of these sessions we will
be discussing the treatment in the text as well as research
articles from the recent ethological literature. Each of
you will prepare and lead the discussion on one of these
articles.
During the
final two weeks of class, you will take turns presenting term
papers and leading class discussion.
Class
Preparation and Participation:
The
assigned textbook readings represent the minimal
preparation necessary for each class period. Additional
assigned readings from the professional ethological literature
will be announced on a regular basis and handed out in class, at
least one week in advance. It is very important that you
come to class each day having read through the assigned readings
at least once. Because well-directed
discussions are more productive and enjoyable than are
traditional lectures, I will try to make our class sessions as
interactive as possible. The more preparation you bring into
class, the more we will have to discuss.
Attendance:
You are
expected to attend classes regularly and any absence is
potentially problematic. Excessive unexcused absences (more
than 4) from lecture will be reported to the Dean in accordance
with college policy and may result in a grade reduction of one
full grade.
Grading:
The semester grade will be computed on the following basis:
% pts.
Class Exam
I
15% = 75
Class Exam
II
15% = 75
Class Final Exam
(cumulative)
20% = 100
Article
Presentation
5% = 25
General Class and Laboratory Participation 5% = 25
Field Trips and Simulation Participation
5% = 25
Term Paper
10% = 50
Lab
Writeups (3) 15% =
75
Laboratory Independent Research Project
10% = 50
Total
100% = 500
Grades will be based on the following scale:
90% = A, 80% = B, 70% = C, 60% = D, <60% = F.
Wesleyan College Department of Biology Policy on the Honor
Code: All students of Wesleyan College have agreed to
abide by the Wesleyan College Honor Code and strict enforcement
of the Honor Code will be practiced by all Biology faculty.
Any violation of the Honor Code including plagiarism or
cheating on exams, quizzes or any assignment will not be
tolerated and will be reported to the Wesleyan College Honor
Court. Cheating (giving or receiving any unauthorized
information or supplying information from any source other than
your memory) on any exam will result in a course semester grade
of F. Any evidence that you are using an
unauthorizedd electronic device (e.g. cell phone, tablet,
computer) during an exam will result in an automatic score of 0
and grade of F on that exam. Plagiarism and/or improper citation on any
assignment will be dealt with on a case by case basis, but also
may result in an F grade for the assignment or the course. If a
student is unclear about violation of the Honor Code for any
assignment, she should contact the instructor before handing in
the assignment.
Wesleyan College Statement on Disabilities: Wesleyan
College is committed to equal education, full participation and
access to facilities for all students. Any student who requires
reasonable academic accommodations or the use of auxiliary aids
in class must first identify herself to the Director of the
First Year Experience and Students in Transition who serves as
the Student Disability Coordinator prior to the first day of
class in the semester in which she desires to receive
accommodations. Documentation by a qualified physician must be
provided and will be reviewed to ensure the documentation meets
the college requirements. If reasonable accommodations are
established, the student is expected to collaborate with each of
her professors within the first week of class to determine how
the accommodations will be implemented. Accommodations will not
be retroactively administered for the semester. Accommodations
that decrease the integrity of a course will not be approved.
Please contact Christy Henry in the Academic Center for
additional information or to seek services.
Civility in the Classroom: Rude, disruptive and/or
disrespectful behaviors as determined by the faculty member
interfere with other students’ rights and with the instructor’s
ability to teach. Therefore, anyone exhibiting unacceptable
behaviors during the class will be asked to leave and will be
counted absent for that class period. Failure to cooperate with
this process will result in disciplinary action that may include
exclusion from the course or dismissal from the College.
Cell
Phones:
Please do
your classmates the courtesy of turning off your cell phones
during class and lab periods. If you must answer your cell
phone, please leave the room to do so. If you leave the room,
please do not come back. If you feel that you must monitor your
cell phone during class or lab, please get permission from the
instructor. Absolutely no cell phones will be allowed during
examinations.
Recording Devices: All novel
materials developed and presented in this course are the
academic and intellectual property of the course instructor,
course students, and/or
Wesleyan College. Unauthorized photography, recording,
electronic monitoring, and/or web dissemination of any portions
of class or laboratory sessions potentially violates the
legitimate expectations of privacy of your classmates and the
course instructor. Please obtain the explicit permission
of the instructor before making any video or audio recordings in
this course. Please do not, under any circumstances, post
recordings from this class to electronic or social media.
Testing Format:
Lecture exams will include a few fill-in-the-blank, matching,
identification, definition and/or multiple-choice questions.
Most questions will be of a short answer, describe/explain -
compare/contrast type. There will also be a few synthesis
questions, requiring you to apply learned concepts to some novel
problem. I will cover the exam format in greater detail in
class as the first exam approaches. I will make every effort to
return graded exams to you within one week.
Term
Paper:
Each of you will write an individual term paper on an
approved ethological topic of your choice. This is to be a
"library" research project, reporting on the theoretical and
empirical work of others, as reported in the scientific
literature. A strong paper will deal with a tightly defined
topic in a tightly focused manner. The paper should
be 4-8 pages in length, be written in an appropriate scientific
language, and use proper scientific citation style. It should
present an up-to-date treatment of the subject, including an
absolute minimum of 5 primary references from the modern,
professional ethological literature. We will be discussing
available bibliographic search and retrieval facilities. Papers
may be submitted for an initial non-graded review any time up to
1 week before the final due date.
During the
final 2 weeks of class each of you will present a short oral
summary of your paper in class and lead a class discussion. To
provide a basis for discussion you must provide in advance one
or two recent and key articles for perusal by the class. We
will be discussing the specific mechanisms for this in greater
detail as the presentation dates approach.
Important
deadlines for the paper are the following:
September 25 - get topic approved by the
instructor
October 9 - turn in an outline of the
paper and an initial bibliography
November13 - final date to turn in draft for
comments
November
20 - turn in final paper and
photocopies or URLs of all articles referenced
November 20 -
distribute
key article(s)
date of presentation (Nov
30 - Dec
4)
- lead 20 minute class discussion
Laboratory Write-ups:
You must turn in formal write-ups on threeof the
laboratory exercises. Each write-up will include a background
and rationale for the study, the experimental materials and
methods, an organized presentation of the experimental results,
and a discussion of the results. Laboratory write-ups must be
your individual work. While you will, of necessity, share
data with your classmates, and you are free to discuss your
results with your classmates, you must generate all text
and figures (tables and graphs) on your own.
All write-ups are due by 5:00 PM Wednesday, December 9th.
Laboratory IRP:
You will undertake an independent research project as an
individual or a pair. You should plan to devote at least 10-20
hours to the project. Your independent project may be a
laboratory project or a field project on almost any question of
animal behavior. Your project may focus on some particular
aspect of your class term paper, as long as it constitutes
original research on your part.
STAGE 1 - THE PROPOSAL:
1) Discuss your ideas for a project with the instructor sometime
before the end of Week 5 (Sept. 18). Hopefully the
instructor can help you refine your project to one which is
"doable" within the available time and resource constraints.
2) Turn
in a formal written proposal to the instructor by the end
of Week 7 - 5:00PM on Friday, Oct. 2. The proposal may be submitted by e-mail.
The proposal should include a list of the participating
experimenters, a clear statement of the experimental question
and hypotheses, a brief sketch of the experimental design, an
estimated time line for the project, a detailed list of
the animals, equipment, and facilities needed, and an
IACUC form (see below), if required.
3) Be
prepared to orally present your proposal during class
October 21 (Week 10). This will be an informal discussion,
intended for sharing ideas with the other members of your lab
and refining your experimental design.
STAGE 2 - THE EXPERIMENT(S):
1) We
will be discussing what resources are available for you to apply
to your IRP.
2)
Although there are several scheduled lab periods for IRP work,
you
will probably need to conduct some or all of your research outside of the
scheduled lab times. Plan ahead and try not to get caught short
on time at the end of the semester.
STAGE 3:
THE PRESENTATION:
1)
Prepare your project for presentation in poster form. Good
posters are organized as a sequence of discrete panels. This
sequence should include an abstract, a brief statement of the
background and rationale of the experimental question and
approach, an outline of the experimental methods, a graphical
and pictorial presentation of the results (usually in several
labeled and briefly annotated panels or figures), and a very
concise statement of the major conclusions. You will have
a PowerPoint template and multiple examples from previous years
to guide you in designing and completing your poster. Be
sure to make arrangements with the instructor to print your
poster on the large-format printer WELL in advance of the poster
defense day (Dec. 2).
2) Set
your poster up on a poster board in the hall outside MSC 101
before the final lab session on December 2.
During the lab session you will be expected to provide a
"defense" of your poster. The poster defense will consist
of "walking us through" the poster, and answering questions
about your design, data analysis, conclusions, etc.
Posters may remain posted until the next offering of BIO 315
(Fall 2017).
Finally a few important points to remember about the projects:
1) Any
project involving direct manipulation of live vertebrate
animals must have the prior approval of the Institutional
Animal Care and Use Committee (IACUC). Forms for this can be
obtained from the instructor. The form must be completed,
turned in, and approved before you can order your
animal(s) or perform any experimental procedures. You must take
into consideration what will happen to your animals at the end
of your IRP.
2)
PLEASE talk to your instructor (me) about your project
before you submit any forms. I do NOT want to hear
about a proposal first when I receive your completed IACUC form.
3) We do
not have the resources to support all possible animal projects,
or to maintain all possible research animals. Please discuss
your ideas with the instructor as early as possible, to get some
idea of the feasibility of the project.
4) For
your safety, if you are conducting a field study make sure
that someone knows your itinerary for each expedition into the
field, even if the "field" is the Wesleyan back campus.
Laboratory Cleanup:
You will be expected (required!) to clean up your work
area after each laboratory exercise, keep your IRP work
materials neatly organized, and clean up your IRP by the end of
the course.
CLASS
SCHEDULE
WK:
DATE:
TOPIC:
ALCOCK TEXT CH ED10 (9)
INTRODUCTION TO ETHOLOGY
1 8/17, 8/19
Introduction/history, perspectives & structure of ethology 1,10 (1)
8/21
Evolution by natural selection - a review
none
2
8/24
Diversity of behavior and ethological constructs none
8/26
Ethological
Methods: the ethogram and sociometric matrix
article
8/28
Ethological methods: sampling and experimental control
article
BEHAVIORAL
MECHANISMS
3 8/31, 9/2
Proximate and ultimate causes of behavior
2,10 (2)
9/4
The nature/nurture question/fallacy
11 (3)
4
9/7
NO CLASS – LABOR DAY
9/9
Behavioral ontogeny - genetics
11 (3)
9/11
Behavioral ontogeny - environment 11
(3)
5 9/14, 9/16
Neural substrates
12 (4)
9/18
Neuroethology
12 (4)
6 9/21, 9/23
CATCHUP & REVIEW
9/24
Midterm Exam 1 (during lab
period)
9/25 Neuroethology
12
(4)
7
9/28
Circadian rhythms
13
(5)
9/30
Seasonal rhythms 13 (5)
10/2 Neuroendocrinology 13
(5)
10/9
Independent Research Project proposal due 5:00PM
BEHAVIORAL
ADAPTATIONS
8 10/5
The adaptationist
paradigm
articles
10/7
Predator/prey relationships
5 (6), articles
10/9
Parasite/host relationships
5 (6), articles
10/9
Term Paper outline
& bibliography due 5:00PM
9 10/12
NO
CLASS – FALL BREAK
10/16
Foraging behavior 5 (7), articles
10/18
Habitat
selection
6
(8), articles
10
10/19
Lab 9b: Simulation design
10/21
Lab
10a:
IRP oral proposal
presentations
10/23
Animal communication
4
(9),
articles
11
10/26
Animal communication 4
(9), articles
10/28
Mate choice
7(10), articles
10/30
Facultative sex ratios
articles
12 11/2, 11/4
CATCHUP
& REVIEW
11/5
Midterm 2 (during lab period)
11/6 Mating
systems
8
(11), articles
13 11/9
Parental care 9
(12), articles
11/11
Adoption, Infanticide, Siblicide
9 (12), articles
11/13
Brood parasitism articles
11/20
deadline to turn in Term Paper draft for review 5:00PM
14 11/16
Social behavior 3(13), articles
11/18
Eusocial behavior 3(13), articles
11/20
Human ethology 14
(14), articles
11/20
Term Paper due by 5:00PM
11/23-11/27 NO CLASSES - THANKSGIVING
HOLIDAY
16 11/30
student presentations
12/2
student
presentations
12/4
student
presentations
17
12/7, 12/9
CATCHUP & REVIEW
12/9
All written work (lab write-ups) due by 5:00
PM
12/10
READING DAY
Tuesday 12/15 5:00 PM
Final Exam
(cumulative)
LAB SCHEDULE
The lab manual for this course
is online at:
http://pierce.wesleyancollege.edu/faculty/brhoades/courses/Bio315manual/labguide.html
The instructor
may also distribute appropriate ancillary materials prior to each
lab.
As you
will notice, the typical lab exercise is actually split over several lab
exercises. Conversely, each lab session may involve
components of several lab exercises. Furthermore, animal
behavior labs tend to be very dependent upon availability of
animals from vendors and the activity of animals outdoors, so
specific dates may change. Finally, labs
involving field trips off campus or field observations at
specific times (e.g. morning, evening, all day) will, of necessity, not occur
entirely within the scheduled lab periods. I will try my
best to keep you appraised of changes to the schedule and to
give you as much advance notice as possible for such changes.
A well-organized laboratory notebook would be a very good
way to keep your laboratory records and data.
WEEK: DATE: TOPIC:
1 8/20 Lab 1a: Behavioral
Observation in Betta splendens
2
8/27
Lab 1b: Experimental Analysis of Betta splendens
3
9/3
Lab 2a: Ethogram/Sociometric Matrix - the SIMs
Lab 2b: Behavioral Sequence Sampling in Jewel Wasps
Lab 7a: Field trip to Foster Lake
(recording) - 9:00PM Sharp!
4
9/10 (all day) Lab 2c: Field trip to ZooAtlanta - 8:00AM Sharp!
5
9/17
Lab 3: Jamming Avoidance Response in Knifefish
6 9/24
Midterm Exam 1
7
10/1
Lab 4a: Neural Substrate of Escape Behavior in Crayfish (setup)
Lab 8a:
Reproductive Strategies in Jewel Wasps (life cycle)
10/2 (Fri) Lab
10a: IRP written proposals due 5:00
PM
8 10/8
Lab 4b: Neural Substrate of Escape Behavior in Crayfish
(recording)
Lab 8b: Reproductive Strategies in Jewel Wasps (setup)
(good time to start IRP setup)
9 10/15
Lab 5: Foraging and Search Image Simulations
Lab 9a: Designing a Simulation (selection of topic)
10
10/21 (Wed)
IRP oral proposal
presentations in class
10/22
Lab 6: Agonistic Behavior in Crayfish and Wasps
Lab 8c: Reproductive
Strategies in Jewel Wasps (data collection)
11
10/29
Lab 7c: Acoustical Analysis using Raven
Lab 8d: Reproductive Strategies in Jewel Wasps (analysis)
Lab 10b: Independent Research Project (experiment)
10/31 (Sat) Lab 7a: Field trip to
the Arboretum
(recording) - 8:00 AM Sharp!
12
11/5
Midterm Exam
2
13
1/12
Lab 9c: Simulation Testing
Lab 10b: Independent Research Project (experiment)
14
11/19 Lab
10b: Independent Research Project (experiment)
11/23-11/27
THANKSGIVING BREAK - NO LAB
15
12/3
Lab 10c: IRP
Poster Session (IRP posters posted and defended)
16
12/10
READING DAY - NO LAB
|