BIO 481/681; PSY 481/681; Spring 2008; Tuesday Thursday; 09:30-10:45am;
Room: CFA 018
PRINCIPLES OF ANIMAL BEHAVIOR
Instructor: Dr. Vladimir Pravosudov
FA 140C; Office hours: Tuesday 11-12am, or by appointment
Phone: 775 784 1271; email: vpravosu@unr.edu
Textbook: ANIMAL BEHAVIOR, by John Alcock, Eighth Edition (2005)
INFORMATION:
● Syllabus
● Research written project (group project)
Final drafts of written projects must be submitted via turnitin.com
Only one member of each group needs to register with turnitin.com in order to submit the assignment.
Class ID 2142111; password: Pravosudov
Only the final draft of the project should be submitted via turnitin.com; first draft and references list should be submitted directly to me via email.
LECTURES (lecture outlines will be posted prior to lectures in pdf format):
(1) Jan 22: Course organization; History of Animal Behavior
(2) Jan 24: Scientific Method; read Chapter 1 of the textbook; paper 1; paper 2
(3) Jan 29: Scientific Method, Textbook Chapter 1, paper 1; paper 2
(4) Jan 31: Natural Selection and Adaptations; Textbook Chapter 6; paper 3
(5) Feb 5: Natural Selection and Adaptations; Groups and topics for written projects have to be finalized and approved.
(6) Feb 7: Natural Selection and Adaptations; Neural Mechanisms of Behavior; Textbook Chapter 4; paper 4; paper 5
(7) Feb 12: Natural Selection and Adaptations; Neural Mechanisms of Behavior; Textbook Chapter 4.
(8) Feb 14: Neural Mechansisms of Behavior; Neuroecology; paper 6; paper 7.
Bonus quiz (the same as I handed out in class on Feb. 14) - due Feb 21 in class.
(9) Feb 19: Neural mechansims of behavior; Neuroecology; paper 8, paper 9; List of references with descriptions is due. Please email your list to me (vpravosu@unr.edu) and also provide a hard copy in class. This assignment is worth 15% of the total project grade.
(10) Feb 21: Neuroecology
(11) Feb 26: Neuroecology; Bird Song System; Book Chapter 2; Paper 10, paper 11.
(12) Feb 28: Bird Song System;Hormones and Behavior; Textbook pp. 160-173; Paper 12, paper 13, paper 14.
(13) Mar 4: Hormones and Behavior
(14) Mar 6: Hormones and Behavior
Sample questions to Midterm, part 2
(15) Mar 11: Midterm (in class), please bring calculators!
midterm grades are percentages; highest score - 118.9% (with extra credit), lowest score - 22.9%; mean score - 86.4%; median score - 94.5%.
(16) Mar 13: Development of Behavior; Textbook Chapter 3; Paper 15, paper 16, paper 17.
(17) Mar 18: Development of Behavior
(18) Mar 20: Development of Behavior; Biological Clocks, textbook pp. 148-160.
MARCH 22-30 NO CLASSES SPRING BREAK
(19)Apr 1 Biological Clocks, textbook pp. 148-160. First draft of the written project is due. Please submit a paper copy and also email me the draft. DO NOT use turnitin.com for the first draft! Please remember that the first draft should be formatted correctly because correct formatting is worth 10% of the project and it will be evaluated on the first draft!
(20)Apr 3: Biological clocks; Migration and Navigation; textbook pp. 130-140; paper 20; paper 21
(21) Apr 8: Migration and Navigation; paper 22; paper 23
(22)Apr 10: Evolution of Social Behavior, paper24; textbook chapter 13
(23)Apr 15: Evolution of Social Behavior, paper25, paper26
(24)Apr 17: Evolution of Social Behavior
(25)Apr 22: Evolution of Social Behavior; Evolution of Mating Systems; textbook chapter 11
(26)Apr 24: Evolution of Mating Systems; textbook chapter 11
Sample Power Point Presentation
(27) April 29: Project presentations; Written projects are due. Please remember to submit a hard copy of the cover page with signatures from ALL group members directly to me either in class or in my office before 5pm. Submit the entire project via turnitin.com
All group presentations will be evaluated by EVERYBODY in class. Your evaluations of these presentations is part of the project and you will receive 2 points for each evaluation (all evaluations are worth 5% of the project grade). These are not bonus points, so please try to attend all presentations or you will loose points. I will hand out evaluation forms at the beginning of each class.
(28) May 1: Project presentations
(29) May 6: Project presentations
Each group member should email me their evaluation of project efforts by the other group members. If other group members contributed equally, their effort score should be 100% and if they did not contribute at all, their effort score should be 0%. Please score each group member and email these scores to me. I will average these scores and adjust the project grade according to these scores to insure fair evaluation.
If I don't hear anything from you, I would assume that you agree that your group members contributed at 100% effort.
FINAL EXAM: Friday May 9, 7:30-9:30 am; same room
Final grades sheet contains % scores for all course components (quizzes, midterm, project, final), NOT adjusted for their relative weight (see relative weight of each course component below) and a TOTAL % for the entire course. Letter grades are not included but you should be able to easily figure them out based on the grade cutoffs (available below and in the syllabus) for the total %.
GRADING:
Quizzes - 25%
Midterm - 20%
Final - 25%
Written Project 30%
Grading
of the Group Project:
Scoring Presentations
of other students – 5%
Correct Formatting –
10%
Literature with brief
description of each paper – 15%
Review of the chosen
topic – 30%
Research Proposal –
30%
Formatting of the
project will be graded on the first draft submission (due
on April 1st) so make sure that your project is formatted
properly!
Literature with brief
description of each paper (minimum of five) will be graded upon initial
submission on February
19th.
Grades will be assigned
as straight percentages, with 100% being determined by the highest score on any
given test, not by the highest number of points possible (unless of course
somebody gets 100% correct). That
is, if the highest exam score is 90%, then all exam scores will be divided into
90 to determine their percentage score (e.g., a score of 80 on that test would
be 88.9%). Letter grade cutoffs will
be 90% for the lowest A, 80% for the lowest B, 70%
for the lowest C, 60% for the lowest D.