EEB129 Syllabus Winter 2009 EEB 129 Animal Behavior Winter Quarter 2009 Professors Dr Renata Dur es Office location Office hours Email January 6 February 5 La Kretz Hall 300 F small conference room Tuesday 1 3 rduraes ucla edu Dr Jordan Karubian February 10 March 12 Office location La Kretz Hall 300 F small conference room Office hours Tuesday 1 3 Email jordank ucla edu Website http www ioe ucla edu CTR staff karubian htm Teaching Assistants Tina Wey Discussion Sections Office location Office hours Email 1A 1C Life Sciences 4808 Tues 2 3 Weds 3 4 tina wey gmail com Gilene Young Discussion Sections Office location Office hours Email 1B 1D Life Science 3125 Tues 1 2 Thurs 1 2 gilene ucla edu Lecture T Th 11 00 12 15 Botany 325 Discussion Sections 1A W 10 00 11 50 1B W 1 00 2 50 1C Th 1 00 2 50 1D Th 3 00 4 50 Geology 6704 Geology 6704 La Kretz 101 Botany 133 Text J Alcock Animal Behavior Eight edition Course website http www lsic ucla edu classes winter09 1 EEB129 Syllabus Winter 2009 Lecture Schedule Date Day Alcock Chapter Topic January 6 1 Tuesday 1 INTRODUCTION January 8 2 Thursday 2 5 January 13 3 Tuesday January 15 4 Thursday 13 SOCIALITY I January 20 5 Tuesday 13 SOCIALITY II January 22 6 Thursday 13 SOCIALITY III January 27 7 Tuesday 10 SEX SPERM COMPETITION January 29 8 Thursday 10 12 February 3 9 Tuesday 10 12 PROXIMATE APPROACHES COGNITION MATING SYSTEMS I MATING SYSTEMS II Review Session 5 30 7 pm February 5 10 Thursday February 10 11 Tuesday 10 12 SEXUAL SELECTION I February 12 12 Thursday 10 12 SEXUAL SELECTION II February 17 13 Tuesday 10 12 ALTERNATIVE MATING TACTICS February 19 14 Thursday 9 SIGNALS COMMUNICATION I February 24 15 Tuesday 9 SIGNALS COMMUNICATION II February 26 16 Thursday 9 SIGNALS COMMUNICATION III 17 Tuesday 8 MOVEMENT I March 5 18 Thursday 7 March 10 19 Tuesday 14 MOVEMENT II HUMAN BEHAVIOR Review Session 5 30 7 pm March 12 20 Thursday March 3 MID TERM EXAM FINAL EXAM 2 EEB129 Syllabus Winter 2009 Course Overview Welcome to EEB 129 Animal Behavior This is an advanced course in animal behavior that presumes working knowledge of the concepts covered in EEB 100 An introduction to ecology and behavior Your two professors Dr Dur es and Dr Karubian conduct active research on the mating behavior and foraging ecology of rain forest birds in South America and Australia Dr Dur es will teach the first half of the course and Dr Karubian will teach the second half Your two teaching assistants Tina Wey and Gilene Young conduct research on social behavior of marmots in Colorado and reproductive behavior of wasps in the Mojave desert respectively In this course we will focus on exploring in more detail selected topics in behavior Our collective goal is to get you thinking critically about how the study of animal behavior is conducted to help develop your written and verbal communication skills and to instill you with our enthusiasm about this fascinating topic In addition to two exams each covering half the course you will be expected to read and critique primary literature for discussion sections to participate in hands on lab practicals in discussion sections and to produce a short 3 5 page research proposal More detail on each of these aspects of the class is provided below Readings We assume that you still own Alcock the text for EEB 100 There will be required readings from Alcock which provide good background information for lecture topics In addition we will provide primary literature on the course website that you are expected to read and to understand These readings will be a major part of most week s discussion sections see below and will be referenced on exams reading and comprehension of the primary literature is an important part of this course We will also provide supplemental reading on the website which is for your interest and is not required You are expected to have a BOL account number so that you can access the class website Lectures Lectures will often depart from Alcock so attending lectures and understanding the lecture material is essential if you want to do well in this class We will hand out PowerPoint slides used in class and post them to the class website but we strongly urge you to come to class pay attention and take good notes If you miss a lecture you should try to get notes from a classmate so that you understand what was discussed Please don t ask your TAs for copies of their notes Discussion Sections Discussion sections meet one time each week for one hour and fifty minutes During these times teaching assistants will be available to review key topics from lecture and readings and to answer questions During exam weeks discussion sections will be largely dedicated to review However we also have two major activities planned for discussion sections critiques of primary literature and lab practicals Below we provide an overview of each of these important aspects of discussion sections Primary Literature critiques Discussion sections most weeks will feature a critique and discussion of primary literature that is peer reviewed research papers that have been published in scientific journals All students in the section will be expected to read these papers BEFORE the section begins and to participate in the critique and discussion of the papers Papers will be made available on the course website and should be downloaded from there 3 EEB129 Syllabus Winter 2009 Each week a group of 3 students will lead the critique of the assigned paper s and turn in to the TA s answers to a series of three questions about the paper this is in addition to the weekly quiz and applies only to those students presenting that week In the first meeting of the quarter Teaching Assistants will give a primer on how to successfully critique a paper also available from the course website and you will sign up for a date on which you will lead the critique All students are expected to participate in discussions each week not just those whose turn it is to lead that week Your overall grade in the discussion sections will take into account 1 the critique you lead and your answers to a series of short questions about the paper s 2 your overall participation in critiques 3 your performance on short quizzes about each week s paper given in discussion section and 4 your participation and performance in lab practicals Details are in the document EEB 129 Paper Critiques which will be handed out in Discussion Section and available on the class website Lab Practicals We have