Biology 334: Fall 2009

Animal Behavior
Biol 334, Sec 001, Fall 2009

Professor: Randi Darling, Ph.D.

eMail: rdarling@wsc.ma.edu

Office: Wilson 225A

Office phone: 413-572-5674

Office hours: M 10:10-11:10, W 10:10-11:10, W and F 8:30-9:00 or by appointment*

* Please note that I am available to meet almost anytime that I am not teaching a class. To set up an appointment to meet with me, call or e-mail me.

Course Description

This course will emphasize the adaptive value and evolutionary importance of animal behavior. We will explore the basic question: Why do animals have the particular behaviors that they have? Topics include: habitat selection, dispersal, foraging, aggression, mating, reproduction, social organization, altruism, cooperation, and communication. In addition to reading from the text, students will critically read and discuss journal articles. Labs will involve in-depth studies of animal behavior and independently designed student projects.

Meeting Times

Lectures will be held Monday, Wednesday, and Friday each week from 11:30-12:20 in Wilson Hall Room 225. A full schedule of class meetings, including topics and holidays, is available on the Lecture Schedule page.

Lab meetings will be held on Wednesdays each week from 12:35-3:25 in Wilson Hall, Room 225. A full schedule of lab meetings, including topics and holidays, is available on the Lab Schedule page.

Prior to the beginning of each week, you should consult the course Preparation Page, which outlines the activities to be completed before class and lab. (The preparation page scheme is explained below.)

Required Course Materials

Text: An Introduction to Behavioral Ecology, J.R. Krebs and N.B. Davies

Readings for Discussion: Exploring Animal Behavior: Readings from American Scientist, 4th Edition. P.W. Sherman and J. Alcock (eds.)

In addition to assigned readings from the text, there will also be assigned papers, these reading assignments will be announced throughout the term.

Note: Scientific calculators are required for laboratories and exams. You may not use calculators on cell phones for exams.

Expectations and General Policies

• Class meets for three 50-minute lectures and one 3-hour laboratory per week.
• Lectures will meet in Wilson 240.
• Attendance at lectures and labs is mandatory.
• You are expected to be on time for lectures and labs. Lectures and labs will start promptly at the scheduled time.
• Late arrivals are disruptive to class and extremely difficult to keep track of. Attendance will be taken at the beginning of class. Therefore, if you are not present at the beginning of class, you will be counted as absent. Lateness to classes will have a large influence on your grade.
• You are responsible for all material and all announcements given in class. If you miss class, make certain to check with a classmate to learn about any items missed.
• Unexcused lecture absences will affect your final grade.*
• It is important that you keep up with the required reading. You should read the assignment prior to lecture so that you come prepared for the lecture. Then after attending the lecture you may find it helpful to review your notes and to review the readings in the text.
• Labs will meet in either Wilson 240, the Mac lab, or in the field.
• Missed labs cannot be made-up and will result in a zero for that laboratory.
• You are expected to come to laboratory on time. Often, we may leave for a field lab or move to the Mac lab, if you are late you will not know where we are. If you come late to lab you will miss us and get a zero on the lab.
• You are expected to come to laboratory prepared. This means doing any
  required reading.
• Lab assignments are expected to be type-written (double spaced), neat, and organized. For laboratory assignments requiring graphs and tables, the graphs and tables should be neat and follow the appropriate format (I will go over how to do this).
• Lab Reports are due at the beginning of lab one week after the completion of the lab.
• Assignments are expected to be handed in by the due date, it is to your benefit to keep up with assignments so that you do not become so far behind that you are unable to catch up. There will be a late penalty for late assignments. * The later the lab is handed in, the more late points you lose. All labs are due the last day of classes, in class. NO late labs will be accepted after this time.
• There will be occasional field laboratories. Tentative dates are on the schedule, I will keep you updated if the times change. These trips will involve excursions to field sites therefore dressing appropriately is essential.
• NO cell phones in class. Interruptions by ringing cell phones are distracting and extremely rude. If there is an unusual circumstance where you need to be contacted (family emergency, medical condition), see me and we will discuss arrangements. Cell phone disruptions in class will affect your class grade.
• I encourage you to actively participate in lectures and labs: please feel free to ask questions and bring up issues you are thinking about. In addition, we will have periodic discussions where we will discuss readings on current conservation issues. In order to have interesting and worthwhile discussions, it is essential that everyone participate in these discussions.
• If you are having any difficulties please come speak with me.
• I realize that occasionally unusual circumstances may arise (e.g. serious illness etc.). If you have any such situation that results in your missing classes or making it difficult to get an assignment in on time, come and talk with me. It is your responsibility to notify me as soon as you can about any problems you have and we will discuss the situation and work out an arrangement. In the case of illness, I request that you get a note from the health care center.

Preparation for Class & Lab Meetings

At the beginning of each week, you will be asked to engage in pre-class preparation activities. The preparation page for each week will have materials and activities relevant to both the lectures and labs. The prep page for the following week will appear on the course home page no later than 5pm each Friday. Prep pages are generally divided into the following sections:

Overview: A general overview will appear at the top of every prep page.

Learning Objectives: A list of questions we are hoping to answer at some point during the week. You should also use these objectives as a sort of guide when preparing for quizzes and exams.

Web Activities/References: Links to helpful web sites will be provided from time to time. Web activities are meant to supplement the reading you do before class.

Grading

Scheme

You will be graded according to exam scores, laboratory assignments, an oral presentation, a poster presentation and attendance and participation in lectures and discussions. There will be two in-class exams and a cumulative final exam. As the in-class exams will be during the regular class period (see schedule for dates) everyone is expected to be present. There will be no make-ups available for missed in-class exams**. The weighting will be as follows:

Scale

Grades will not be calculated on a curve. Therefore, you will not be
competing with your classmates. Your final course grade will be calculated as a percent of
the total points possible (outlined above) and assigned a letter grade according to the following scale:

** In the case of serious illness please contact me prior to the scheduled exam to make arrangements for a make-up exam. If you do not contact me ahead of time to make other arrangements, you will receive a zero for a missed exam. Excused missed exams will be made up the last day of final exam period.

Note: These percent ranges might be revised down, if necessary. They will not be raised. The minimum percent score for a given letter grade is guaranteed.

Exams

There will be two in-class examinations (given during laboratory period to give you more time for the exam) and a cumulative final exam given during the final exam period. Exams will cover lecture and laboratory material and assigned readings (including readings assigned for discussion). The format will be predominately short answer and short essay questions.

Discussion Sections

Discussion sections are an integral part of this course. Attendance and participation in discussions is mandatory. For each discussions section you will read 1-2 original papers on an aspect of animal behavior. You will need to carefully and critically read the papers and come to class prepared to discuss the assigned readings. For each paper you read, you will be given a brief critical evaluation form to fill out. These critical evaluation questionnaires are intended to help you structure your thoughts about the paper. These critical evaluations will be collected and will be part of your grade. Critical evaluation forms are due prior to discussions and will not be accepted late. Missed discussions cannot be made up.

Keep the following questions in mind when reading the assigned papers:

1. What questions were asked?
What hypotheses were proposed?

2. What methodology was attempted?
Was this the best way to test the hypotheses?
Were there problems with the methodology?

3. Was the data analysis competent?

4. What were the main results?

5. Were the author's conclusions justified?
Did the author answer the original question(s)?
Was the interpretation of the data reasonable?

6. What are the implications of the results?

7. What would the next step be?
What further studies would be interesting to pursue?

Laboratory Independent Design Projects and Presentations

A major component of the laboratory will be your designing, carrying out, and presenting the results of your own independent study project. Each group of three or four students will pick an aspect of animal behavior of interest to them, and will design an experiment to test a particular hypothesis regarding that behavior.

You are free to choose your own topic but it must be something that you can test in a seven-week period with the resources that we have available. If you need suggestions, please speak with me- the sooner you start thinking of ideas the better. Independent projects require that you are very organized and think through things thoroughly before you get started. Independent project ideas must be discussed with me, and approved by me ahead of time. I will meet with each group of students several times prior to the beginning of the projects to help you with ideas and experimental design. After each group begins collecting the data and I will meet with each group to discuss appropriate ways to analyze and present the data.

At the end of the term, each group will present their results in lab (orally) and hand in a poster presenting their research project. Posters will be presented at a student research symposium (date to be announced). In addition, each student will hand in a written report for his or her independent project.

Each student should start an “idea notebook” right away (i.e. a notebook in which you jot down possible questions of interest to you which could potentially lead to research projects).

Attendance & Make-Up Policy

You are expected to attend each and every class and lab session. Should absence from class or lab be unavoidable, you must notify me by e-mail or phone prior to the absence. Make up exams will be administered only in the event of a documented, legitimate absence and will be at my discretion. Make-up exams will not be the same as those given in class or lab. There will be no make-up labs.

Course Objectives

With successful completion of this course students will:

1) Demonstrate knowledge of basic principles and theories in the field of animal behavior.
2) Demonstrate knowledge of how to conduct scientific investigations of animal behavior problems.
3) Demonstrate an ability to communicate the results of scientific investigations in written and oral formats.
4) Demonstrate knowledge of basic statistical analysis of data.

Learning Outcomes

This course is designed to help students begin meeting the Learning Goals established by the Biology Department. Throughout this course, you can develop and collect documents that will help you prepare your portfolio, which is required to demonstrate that you have met those learning objectives. Appropriate documents might include lab reports, reflective essays, and written assignments.

Objective: The student will demonstrate knowledge of evolution and how it applies to behavior (including the concepts of natural selection, sexual selection, kin selection, fitness and inclusive fitness).

Assessment: Understanding of these processes will be assessed from exams, discussion sections and assigned critical evaluation forms.

Objective: The student will demonstrate knowledge of intra-specific interactions (such as competition, aggression, dominance, sociality, and mating systems).

Assessment: Understanding of these processes will be assessed from exams, laboratory assignments, discussion sections, assigned critical evaluation forms, and independent research projects.

Objective: The student will demonstrate knowledge of cooperation, eusociality, and how eusocial systems arise.

Assessment: Understanding of these processes will be assessed from exams, discussion sections and assigned critical evaluation forms.

Objective: The student will demonstrate knowledge of how to conduct and report the results of scientific investigations in written, oral and multi-media formats.

Assessment: Your knowledge of how to conduct and report the results of scientific investigations will be assessed through laboratory reports, and an oral and poster presentation of your animal behavior data collection research project.

Objective: The student will demonstrate knowledge of how to obtain, evaluate and report information from the scientific literature, electronic databases and online resources.

Assessment: Your knowledge of how obtain and report information from a variety of sources will be evaluated based upon your use of sources for your oral presentation and poster presentation assignments.

Objective: The student will demonstrate knowledge of how to apply quantitative methods to biological situations. Students will demonstrate knowledge of using mathematical formula to make various calculations for foraging models, territoriality models and inclusive fitness. Students will also learn statistical analysis for analyzing data collected during laboratory experiments.

Assessment: Knowledge of how to use mathematical formula and statistical analysis to aid in conceptual understanding of biological processes will be assessed through laboratory reports and class exams.

Objective: The student will demonstrate knowledge of how to evaluate scientific models to assess animal behavior.

Assessment: Understanding of the ability to evaluate and use scientific models (ideal free distribution models, foraging models, territoriality models, and game theory models) will be evaluated

Plagiarism

Plagiarism is a violation of the College’s Academic Honesty Policy and violations are subject to penalties including failure of the course and dismissal from the college. All students are responsible for familiarizing themselves with the College’s Academic Honesty Policy (in the College Bulletin).

“Plagiarism is the act of presenting the intellectual work of others (words, ideas, artwork, computer programming codes, etc.) as if it were one’s own. Some common forms of plagiarism are (1) submitting someone else’s paper as one’s own (2) copying a passage from another source without citing the source, (3) expressing a published idea or theory in different words, without crediting the source of the idea” (Taken from the WSC College Bulletin).

Common examples of plagiarism that I have seen in my courses include laboratory partners submitting “cut-and-paste” lab reports (with identical sentences and paragraphs. Even though you work in lab groups, if you are instructed to write independent laboratory reports you need to write the lab reports completely in YOUR own words. I have also had students “cut-and-paste” information from the web and present it as their own work. It is very easy for instructors to find these violations (and I look for this). Note: Even if you cite the source(s), if a project is largely a “cut-and-paste” project it will receive a failing grade because it shows (1) very little research on your part, (2) it does not demonstrate that YOU understand the material, (2) it is not a creative or original presentation of the material.

Laboratory Safety

Laboratory safety is a critical issue for each lab that we do. Students are responsible for familiarizing themselves with all of these safety rules (discussed in class and outlined in your laboratory manual), and for following all the safety rules throughout the term. Using caution and commonsense are critical. If you ever have a question regarding doing something that you think may not be safe, stop and ask first. Do not do anything that can result in harming yourself or others.

Ethical Treatment of Animals

Throughout the term, all students are required to provide ethical treatment for any animals used in this course. Animals must be appropriately housed and cared for. Independent research projects will only be approved if the project involves ethical treatment and care of the animals involved. I will not approve any independent research project that involves any harm or injury to animals.