BIOL 426. Ornithology Spring 2011

Transcription

1 BIOL 426. Ornithology Spring 2011 Instructor: Edward C. Murphy Phone: Office Hours: W, F, 10:15am -11:00am or by appointment) Teaching Assistant: Melody Durrett Office: Trailer T-10 (southwest trailer by Arctic Health). Phone: Office hours: TBA CATALOG DESCRIPTION: BIOL F426 W,O/2 Ornithology (n) 3 Credits Offered Spring Evolution, anatomy, physiology, distribution, migration, breeding biology of birds, their classification and identification. Prerequisites: BIOL F115X; BIOL F116X; COMM F131X or COMM F141X; ENGL F111X; ENGL F211X or ENGL F213X; or permission of instructor. (2+3) SCHEDULE Lectures: Elvey Auditorium W, F 9:15AM-10:15AM Lab 103 Irving I, F 2:15PM-5:15 PM DEGREE REQUIREMENTS: MEETS one-half Core oral upper division communication intensive requirement and Core upper division writing intensive requirement and Natural Science degree requirement with laboratory O/2: (1) You will give a short oral presentation in lab on a bird species of your choice using 2-3 powerpoint slides. This presentation will be in sequence with coverage of that species in the lab outline. (2) You will give a 12-minute presentation, with 2 additional minutes for questions and answers, of your research paper at the end of the semester in lecture or lab. W: You will write a research paper with about 8 pages of text (double-spaced). It should include 5-10 references from the refereed journal literature. For ideas, look through the textbook, the journals listed below, or talk to Mel or me. Before finalizing your topic, make sure that one or both of us have approved it. You will first submit a final draft of the paper, which I will read, edit, grade and return to you (10% of final grade). You will then revise the paper based on my edits and suggestions and turn in a final version (5% of final grade). You must turn in your original submittal with your resubmittal. See schedule below for due dates for final draft and final version. ***** 1

2 PARTICIPATION: Although we won t base your grade on your attendance in lectures and labs, attending both will greatly aid both your grade in the course and your understanding of the material. In both lectures and labs there will occasionally be unannounced quizzes. If you miss a quiz because you are either late or not there at all, you will receive a zero score on that quiz unless you have been excused by one of us. Any planned absences, for example, UAF sport events for team members, must have our approval BEFOREHAND. DISABILITIES: We will work with the Office of Disabilities Services to provide reasonable accommodation to students with disabilities; please let us know if you have any special needs and we will work with you to do everything we can to help. LABORATORY SPECIMENS All study specimens will be available during laboratory sessions and scheduled review sessions; however, they are maintained in locked cabinets at other times. Taking specimens out of the laboratory (Irving I, Rm. 103) is not permitted. FOOD AND DRINK MAY NOT BE BROUGHT INTO THE LABORATORY TEXTBOOKS REQUIRED: Gill, F. B Ornithology, 3 rd Edition. W. H. Freeman, New York (supplementary materials, lots of good stuff: And EITHER Dunn, J. L. and J. Adlerer National Geographic field guide to the birds of North America. 5 th edition National Geographic Society (best choice for your first field guide) OR D. A. Sibley The Sibley guide to birds. National Audobon Society. Knopf. (excellent 1 st addition to you first guide) REFERENCE (You do NOT need to buy these we ll have copies either in the lab or on reserve in the Biological Sciences Library) Proctor, N. S., and P. J. Lynch Manual of Ornithology. Yale Univ. Press (excellent detail on all aspects of anatomy, but much more detail than you ll need to learn in this course). Ehrlich, D. S. Dobkin, and D. Wheye The Birder s Handbook. Simon and Schuster (provides additional information to a field guide about each species) 2

3 Lecture Schedule Mtg Date Instructor Topic Reading (Chapter in Gill or other) 1 F, 21 Jan Murphy Introduction; diversity of birds 1 2 W, 26 Jan Murphy Evolution of Aves 2 3 F, 28 Jan Murphy Systematics 3 4 W, 2 Feb Murphy Senses, brain, intelligence 7 5 F, 4 Feb Lindberg Waterfowl populations 6 W, 9 Feb Durrett Feathers 4 7 F, 11 Feb Durrett Flight 5 8 W, 16 Feb Sharbaugh Physiology 6 9 F, 18 Feb Sharbaugh Physiology: overwintering 10 W, 23 Feb Durrett TBA 11 F, 25 Feb Winker Birds of the World 12 W, 2 Mar Murphy Review 13 F, 4 Mar Murphy Midterm I (through meeting 11) W, 9 Mar Murphy Midterm I return, Vocalizations 8 15 F, 11 Mar Murphy Annual cycles 9 X W, 16 Mar SPRING BREAK X F, 18 Mar SPRING BREAK 16 W, 23 Mar Murphy Navigation and migration F, 25 Mar Murphy Social behavior W, 30 Mar Murphy Mates F, 1 Apr Murphy Breeding systems W, 6 Apr Review 21 F, 8 Apr Murphy Midterm II (through meeting 20) W, 6 Apr Murphy Eggs, development F, 8 Apr Murphy Nests and incubation W, 13 Apr Murphy Parents and young F, 15 Apr Murphy Lifetime reproductive success W, 20 Apr Murphy Populations F, 22 Apr Murphy Species and speciation W, 27 Apr Murphy Communities F, 29 Apr Murphy Conservation W, 4 May Student presentations (n = 5) 31 F, 6 May Murphy Review 32 W, 11 May FINAL EXAM (8:00am-10:00am)

4 Lab Schedule Date Instructor Topic LAB 21 Jan Murphy Birds wintering in Interior Alaska; Galliformes, 1 Columbiformes, Strigiformes, Piciformes; chickadee feeder watches (OUTSIDE) 28 Jan Murphy Sphenisciformes, Gaviiformes, 2 Podicipediformes, Charadriiformes I (Laridae, Alcidae) 4 Feb Durrett Anseriformes 3 11 Feb Durrett Review 4 18 Feb Durrett Lab Test I 5 25 Feb Winker UA Museum, 6 Charadriiformes II (plovers; shorebirds) 4 Mar Murphy Procellariformes, Phoenicopteriformes, 7 Pelecaniformes, Ciconiiformes, Gruiformes 11 Mar Murphy Falconiformes; Anatomy 8 18 Mar Murphy SPRING BREAK Mar Murphy LAB TEST II 9 Psittaciformes, Opisthocomiformes, Musophagiformes, Cuculiformes, Caprimulgiformes, Apodiformes, Coliiformes, Trogoniformes, Coraciiformes 1 Apr Murphy Passerines I (through Turdidae) 10 8 Apr Murphy Passerines II Apr Murphy FIELD TRIP: Creamer s Field Apr Murphy Lab test III Apr Murphy FIELD TRIP: Smith Lake 14 6 May Murphy Student presentations (n = 15) 15 OPTIONAL lab text: Proctor, N. S., and P. J.Lynch Manual of Ornithology. Yale Press. Note: Laboratory assignments will include field exercises both during the laboratory and outside of class; dress appropriately for wet, cold weather on days we will be outside! 4

5 Grading policy: Final grade will be calculated as follows: Lecture (65%); Lab (35%). Letter grade: A (100-90); B (89-80); C (79-70); D (69-60); F (below 60). Components of grade: Item Date % of grade 1. Midterm I F, 4 March Midterm II F, 8 April Final W, 11 May (8-10am) Lab test I F, 18 Feb Lab test II F, 25 March Lab test III F, 22 April 10 7a. Research Paper: draft (W) W, 23 March 10 7b. Research Paper: final version (W) F, 29 April 5 8. Oral Presentation of Research Paper (O/2) TBA (end of semester) 5 9. Lecture quizzes Unannounced; Lab assignments [Field observations; inclass oral presentation (O/2)] Occasionally Periodically 5 ON-LINE INFORMATION FOR AVIAN SPECIES Birds of North America: excellent source for detailed information about every North American species: you can access this for free without a password if you are logged on within the UAF domain. Gill s textbook, supplementary on-line materials, including link to Tree of Life program: Animal Diversity Web (Museum of Zoology, University of Michigan): SELECTED: Alaska Dept. Fish and Game, Wildlife Notebook Series: 5