DIVERSITY AND SYSTEMATICS OF ORGANISMS – EEOB 405.01 FALL 2009 OHIO STATE UNIVERSITY AT LIMA DR. JACKIE AUGUSTINE Office: LS 330 Phone: 419-995-8237 Email: [email protected] or [email protected] Office Hours: MWF 10:10-1:30, TR by appointment COURSE OBJECTIVE: This course is designed to introduce the student to the structure, function, ecology, and taxonomy of bacteria, fungi, protists, plants and animals. The course centers on identifying, learning and describing the significant adaptations of the major groups. Students should be prepared to memorize names of phyla and classes, the characteristics of each taxa and the evolutionary relationships among taxa. It is hoped that by gaining a better understanding of the biological richness of this planet and how this biological complexity emerged, you will better appreciate how familiar organisms are related to other life forms on this planet. Furthermore, such understanding is absolutely crucial for tackling the environmental issues that threaten this diversity and have contributed to the current global ‗biodiversity crisis‘, in which species are going extinct at an alarming rate. We cannot assess the magnitude of this loss, nor hope to save our dwindling biological resources unless we know what biodiversity currently exists on this planet. REQUIRED TEXT: Lecointre, G., and H. Le Guyader. (2006) The Tree of Life: A Phylogenetic Classification. Cambridge, MA: Belknap Press. ISBN 0674021835 GENERAL EXPECTATIONS: Students are responsible for all information given during class even if the student is not in attendance a particular day. Students who miss class are responsible for getting missed material including handouts from classmates—Check Carmen regularly for announcements. Students are expected to know the correct spelling and names of selected taxa. In addition, students will be expected to follow the rules of punctuation for taxa names at all times. The genus of an organism is always capticalized and the species is always in lowercase. Both the genus and species names are italicized when typed or underlined when hand-written (cursive writing is not the same as being italicized). Example: Tympanuchus cupido. LECTURE NOTES: Simplified PowerPoint lectures for a given lecture will be posted on Carmen by 10pm the previous day. The notes posted on Carmen will be missing key terms and descriptions of examples, to encourage attendance and active participation during class.GRADING POLICY: Lecture and laboratory sections are graded separately. Course grades will be based upon the percentage of total points that the student accumulates from assigned activities/exams. The Lecture grade will be determined as follows: Exam I ...................................................................... 50 points Exam II ................................................................... 100 points Exam III .................................................................. 100 points Final exam (50 points is cumulative) ...................... 150 points Activities/Assignments (two lowest dropped): ...... 100 points Total ..................................................................... 500 points The distribution for a letter grade is fixed and based upon the following grade scale: 92-100% = A 82-87% = B 72-77% = C 62-67% = D 90-91% = A- 80-81% = B- 70-71% = C- 60-61% = D- 88-89% = B+ 78-79% = C+ 68-69% = D+ 0-59% = F COURSE FORMAT AND ATTENDANCE: EEOB 405.01 consists of three, one-hour lectures (MWF) per week. Lectures will provide an introduction to the major animal groups, by highlighting the major evolutionary innovations and unique characteristics of each, as well as the features shared with other groups. Students are responsible for all information given during class whether the student is in attendance or not. Missing class due to ―outside interests‖ including jobs and extracurricular activities will not be given special consideration by the instructor (I will not distinguish between excused and unexcused absences). Activities will consist of in-class or out-of-class work. If you are absent for in-class assignments or quizzes, you will not be able to make it up – the missed activity/quiz will be one of the lowest grades that are dropped. Assignments not handed in by the due date will not receive credit (no partial credit will be given for late work). EEOB 405.02 is a separate class; however, it is recommended that EEOB 405.01 and EEOB 405.02 be taken concurrently. The Laboratory Exercises are designed to give you an opportunity for ‗hands-on‘ experience with representative members of these various taxa, which will enable you to identify and study many of these taxon-specific characteristics discussed in lecture. MISSED EXAMS: If you know in advance that you will not be present during a scheduled exam, please contact the instructor to set up an alternate time before the scheduled exam. If you are ill or there is some other emergency the day of the exam, I MUST be notified the day of the exam and provided documentation to support the reason for your absence within one week. There is little we can do for you after the exam has been held and you have made no effort to contact us. Make-up exams may be entirely essay and different from the regular exam. The student is allowed only ONE hourly make-up exam. All othermissed exams, regardless of the reason, will result in a ZERO. The make-up exam must be taken no later than 48 hours from the scheduled exam; the time must be arranged directly with the instructor. Note on extended absences: If you must miss more than two classes due to extended illness, a doctor‘s excuse should be given to the instructor. Please submit the form at http://www.shc.ohio-state.edu/posts/documents/absence-excuse-form.pdf . THE STUDENT MUST SUBMIT THIS FORM WITHIN 48 HOURS OF THE SECOND MISSED CLASS (submission via email preferred). Upon the student‘s return, the student and the instructor will prepare a schedule to turn in and complete missed work and exams. EXAM FORMAT: Hourly exams will be a combination of short-answer and multiple choice questions. The exams will cover all assigned reading material, assignments, and information given during lecture. Although only the Final Exam is designated as cumulative, I do expect the student to retain major concepts, principles