Syllabus
ANIMAL DIVERSITY: INVERTEBRATES
Fall 2006 Syllabus
Instructor Information:
Dr. Rob Guralnick
Asst. Professor, EBIO and Curator
of Invertebrates, CU Museum
Office: W348 Musuem Collections
Building
Lab: E176 Museum Collections Building
Office Hours: To be announced
telephone
number: (303) 735-0178
email: guralnic@spot.colorado.edu
Teaching Assistant: Andrew Hill
Office Hours: TBA
BOOKS REQUIRED:
Biology of Invertebrates 5th Edition. Jan Pechenik. McGraw-Hill.
Invertebrate Zoology: A Laboratory Manual 6th Edition. Robert L. Wallace and Walter K. Taylor. Prentice-Hall.
COURSE OVERVIEW
95% of animal life is invertebrates, and this course serves as an introduction to this amazing diversity of invertebrate life that lives in salt water and freshwater systems and on land. The course is divided into three sections separated by two midterms and a final. The first third of the course focuses on the origins of invertebrate diversity, key features that have arisen during invertebrate diversification, and a discussion of some of the earliest offshoots in invertebrate diversity, the sponges and cnidarians. The second portion covers the origins of bilaterally symmetrical organisms, with a focus first on major features of bilaterians, major innovations in body cavities, focusing on flatworms, parasitic groups, and a major clade of Metazoans called the Spiralians which includes Annelids and Molluscs. The third portion of the course is focused on two major clades; the Ecdyozoans, or molting organisms, and the Deuterostomes including echinoderms and chordates. Vertebrates, a group of chordates, is introduced.
Lecture Schedule (Tuesdays and Thursdays 9:30-10:50am RAMY N183)
|
Date |
D.O.W |
Course Topic |
|
August 29 |
Tu |
Introduction to course, organizing principles for class |
|
31 |
Th |
The field of invertebrate biology. Animal life in crisis: examples in freshwater. |
|
Sept 5 |
Tu |
How do we organize the diversity of life? Intro. To Metazoans |
|
7 |
Th |
The tree of life, Metazoan phylogenies; Origins of Metazoans. |
|
12 |
Tu |
Field trip to Campus Pond – no
formal class |
|
14 |
Th |
Origins of Metazoa cont… and major events in Metazoan history. |
|
19 |
Tu |
First phylum: The Sponges; Intro. To Cnidarians |
|
21 |
Th |
Cnidarians: Class Anthozoa; Swimming; Corals and Coral Reefs |
|
26 |
Tu |
Corals and Coral reefs cont… Phylum Ctenophora |
|
28 |
Th |
Bilateria – Intro, cell formation, coeloms, hydrostatic skeletons |
|
Oct. 3 |
Tu |
Review period with Andrew Hill –
no formal class |
|
5 |
Th |
Midterm I – material Aug. 29-Sept.
28. Paper assigned |
|
10 |
Tu |
Hydrostatic skeletons cont., Small Phyla, Meiofauna, Intro. To Lophotrochozoa, Introduction to Annelids |
|
12 |
Th |
Annelids: Leeches, Polychaetes, Oligochaetes. Focus on feeding, locomotion,. Repro. |
|
17 |
Tu |
Introduction to Mollusca, Body Plans, Classes A- and Polyplacophora |
|
19 |
Th |
Mollusca: Class Monoplacophora, Class Gastropoda, Intro. To Bivalves |
|
24 |
Tu |
Mollusca: Class Bivalvia, Scaphopoda, Intro. to Cephalopoda |
|
26 |
Th |
Cephalopoda; The rest of the
lophotrochozoa |
|
31 |
Tu |
Introduction to the Ecdyzosoa, minor phyla. Exoskeleton function |
|
Nov. 2 |
Th |
Exoskeleton cont… Molting and metamorphosis. |
|
7 |
Tu |
Midterm II: Material Oct. 10-Nov. 7 |
|
9 |
Th |
Arthropods: Crustaceans, Chelicerates, Trilobites, Uniramia |
|
14 |
Tu |
Arhtropod Flight – Guest lecture Deane Bowers |
|
16 |
Th |
Fall Break – no class |
|
20 |
Tu |
Thanksgiving – No Class |
|
23 |
Th |
Introduction to deuterostomes; Phylum Echinodermata intro. |
|
28 |
Tu |
Echinoderms: Class Echinoidea, Asteroidea, |
|
30 |
Th |
Echinoderms: Class Ophiuroidea, Crinoidea, Introduction to the Chordata, review. Paper due. |
|
Dec. 5 |
Tu |
Class Hemichordates, Class Urochordates, Tunicates feeding |
|
7 |
Th |
Class Urochordata wrap up, Cephalochordata, Chordates |
|
12 |
Tu |
Invasive species, biomonitoring, other societal issues with invertebrates. |
|
14 |
Th |
Review for final – major organizing themes |
LAB Scheduled Time: Mondays 2:00pm to 4:50pm RAMY N1B36
|
|
|
|
|
August |
28 |
No lab |
|
September |
4 |
No lab – Labor Day |
|
|
11 |
Lab organization period. Phylum Porifera |
|
|
18 |
Phylum Ctenophora and Cnidaria |
|
|
25 |
Platyhelminthes, other parasitic groups, pseudocoelomates |
|
October |
2 |
Annelids: Polychaetes, Oligochaetes, Leeches |
|
|
9 |
Annelids wrap up. Lophotrochozoans: Echiurans, Lophophorates, Nemerteans, Sipunculids, Pogonophorans, Ento and Ectoprocts. |
|
|
16 |
Molluscs I: Class Poly-, A- and Monoplacophora, Gastropods |
|
|
23 |
Molluscs II: Class Bivalvia, Scaphopoda, Cephalopoda |
|
|
30 |
Lab practical 1 |
|
November |
6 |
Arthopods: basal lineages, Crustaceans, Arachnids, Trilobotes, Uniramia |
|
|
13 |
Echinoderms: Class Echinoid, Asteriod |
|
|
20 |
Fall Break |
|
|
27 |
Echinoderms II: Class Ophiuroidea, Class Crinoid, Echinoderm diversity. Introduction to Chordates: Hemichordates |
|
December |
4 |
Chordata
Lab: Urochordates,
Cephalochordates, Vertebrates |
|
December |
11 |
Final lab practical |
Powerpoint: All lecture notes (the Powerpoint slides) will be made available as Web and native PPT files. It will take approx. a week to get PPT/Web files online. I will burn CDs of notes for students, if requested. Making the material available online or on CD is done as a favor to the students and as time allows. We will try to do the best we can but the availability of PPT is not a given.
Website: We will _try_ to get material on the website for you (assignments, other notes, questions and answers) but please be patient and understanding if it happens late or not at all.
Emailing Instructor and TA: Email is the least likely way to get a response from the Instructor or TA in a timely manner, but we will do our best to at least read emails and respond; A response cannot be guaranteed.
Special Sessions: Special review sessions for lecture and lab will be considered if there is agreement that at least 30% of the students plan to attend. Low attendances at the initial sessions may result in fewer or none being offered later.
Provisional Grading:
Midterm 1: 10% of final grade
Midterm 2: 15% of final grade
Lab Exam 1: 10% of final grade
Lab Exam 2: 20% of final grade (10% Part II of labs, 10% cumulative)
Final: 30% of final grade (15% Part 3 of course, 15% cumulative)*
Short paper: 5% of final grade + up to 2% extra credit
Class participation/Lab Participation/Lab notebook: 10% of final grade
There are no set number of As, Bs or Cs given out in this course (no strict curve). Grading will be based on naturally occurring sets of breaks between high scoring, medium scoring and lower scoring students. If everyone does well, everyone gets As.
We will consider improvement a criterion for grading. If you do much better on the final compared to the midterms, we will downweight the midterm scores and upweight the final.
Short Paper
There will be a 4-8 page double spaced paper assigned for this course. You will get a full assignment from the instructor in late September, and the paper is due latest November 23. The paper should be short review paper on a topic of interest about invertebrates. It should focus on more than one and preferably many papers on the same topic from the primary literature (that means a scientific paper and not the Internet, although you can use the Internet to find the papers!). You may cover any topic related to invertebrates, but the instructors ask that you discuss what you choose to cover with them before starting. Especially good papers accrue up to 2% extra credit towards the final grade. A good paper can therefore bump you as much as half a grade (from say a B+ to A-).
Expected Behavior:
I expect each class member to behave as is befitting a professional situation like attending a class. The simple rules are: attend class, participate, and know campus policy about expected classroom behavior (http://www.colorado.edu/policies/classbehavior.html). I will treat each member with all respect as long as I feel that is reciprocated. Cheating will not be tolerated and I expect all students to follow codes of ethics as outlined by the University of Colorado (http://www.colorado.edu/academics/honorcode/Home.html).
Policy regarding Relgious Observance:
Campus policy regarding religious observances requires that faculty make every effort to reasonably and fairly deal with all students who, because of religious obligations, have conflicts with scheduled exams, assignments or required attendance. In this class, the instructors will discuss accommodations on a case by case basis. Reasonable requests will almost always be granted.
Policy regarding sexual harassment
The University of Colorado at Boulder policy on Discrimination and arassment (http://www.colorado.edu/policies/discrimination.html, the University of Colorado policy on Sexual Harassment and the University ofColorado policy on Amorous Relationships applies to all students, staff and faculty. Any student, staff or faculty member who believes s/he has been the subject of discrimination or harassment based upon race, color, national origin, sex, age, disability, religion, sexual orientation, or veteran status should contact the Office of Discrimination and Harassment (ODH) at 303-492-2127 or the Office of Judicial Affairs at 303-492-5550. Information about the ODH and the campus resources available to assist individuals regarding discrimination or harassment can be obtained at http://www.colorado.edu/odh