COMPARATIVE VERTEBRATE ANATOMY
Syllabus Fall 2008


Instructor:   Dr. Craig S. Hood              Office: Monroe 358 or BIOLOGY OFFICE,  MO 347
                       Professor                            E-mail: chood@loyno.edu <= BEST WAY TO GET ME!

Phone:        865-2193 (My Office)       865-2288 (Biology Office)

Class Meetings:    Lecture-- TR 9:30-10:45 (Monroe 343)
                                  Lab 021    -- F 1:30-4:30 (Monroe 366)

Textbooks:

Kardong, Kenneth, V. 2005. Vertebrates. Comparative anatomy, function, and evolution. 4th Edition. Wm C. Brown/McGraw-Hill Publ.  Note this is the New Edition

Hood, Craig S. 2007.  Comparative Vertebrate Anatomy Laboratory Manual. 
 

Course Purpose and Goals.     Comparative Vertebrate Anatomy is a course concerning the evolution of vertebrates. We will explore how vertebrates originated, their characteristic anatomical and physiological features, how they developed, and how those features allow vertebrates to perceive their environment, locomote, seek prey, avoid predators, maintain homeostasis and basically do everything an organism must do to live. We will learn to appreciate that the vertebrate body is not simply a collection of static anatomy, but that the form and function of vertebrates is integrated into functional systems. Although humans are vertebrates (mammals), they are not the focus of this course.   Nonetheless, this course will allow you to situate humans among our vertebrate relatives and to better appreciate our structure and function. The specific objectives for the lecture portion of this course (see Blackboard website) describe my expectations of what you should be able to learn in terms of course content. The following are the overall learning goals of this course -- if I do a good job teaching and you do a good job learning, these are the things you "should be able to do" by the end of the course --

    1. You will develop critical reading, writing and thinking skills.
    2. You will develop writing skills through exams, assignments, and longer papers.
    3. You will be able to use primary scientific literature to understand vertebrate biology.
    4. You will learn that vertebrate biology reflects the integration of form and function.


Grades and Grading: Your efforts and accomplishments in this course will be evaluated by a) lecture and lab examination scores, b) comprehensive final and c) quizes and assignments, as follow:

3 Lecture exams:              300 pts
1 Final exam:                    100 pts
3 Lab practicals:               300 pts
Research Paper :               75 pts
Quizes/Assignments:         75 pts
Your overall grade will be based on the following percentages of the total points earned:

                            100 to 90 % -- A                         76 to 70 % -- C
                              89 to 87 % -- B+                       69 to 67 % -- D+
                              86 to 80 % -- B                         66 to 60 % -- D
                              79 to 77 % -- C+                      below 60 % -- F
 

Attendance:   There is no specific attendance policy, except that I believe you will learn a lot more if you attend class than if you don't.  With this said, I expect you to make every effort to attend all of the scheduled lectures and labs. You are responsible for any and all material presented in class and distributed via e-mail or the web.

Prerequisites: This is a majors course in Biological Sciences. You must have completed the Biology Core Courses, or received permission of instructor.


E-mail and Website: The use of e-mail and the www (Internet) has gone beyond being merely fun and/or convenient. Information technologies have become routine tools for learning. It is imperative that you learn to use e-mail, the Internet, and general computing (word-processing, graphics, and database management) as part of your college education. Accordingly, you must have a Loyola e-mail account and check it (and the course website) regularly. If you do not have a Loyola account, you can get one on the 5th Floor of Monroe - its free!

I will be communicating with you via e-mail regularly, and delivering assignments and handouts by way of the course website. I will hand-out "hardcopies" of lecture materials in class only if the campus server goes down for an extended period.

Hurricanes and Tropical Storms: We are just at the beginning of a 20 year cycle of more frequent and stronger tropical storms (thanks in part to anthropogenic-driven global climate change). It is possible that one of more tropical systems will enter the Gulf of Mexico this Fall that will trigger cancellation of classes for a few days or longer. I will be talking with you about any approaching storms and what that could do to our schedule. You should, of course, make your own personal hurricane plan and your decision about evacuating if a storm is threatening. However, you are responsible for staying in contact with me (especially via e-mail) and I will contact the class via e-mail and the Blackboard website about adjustments to our schedule. If there is a general evacuation of the New Orleans region, I will communicate with you via e-mail and the Blackboard website. I will attempt to continue our class via Blackboard if the system is "up" and reliable and our Administration declares that courses can continue in this mode.

Again, be safe, have your personal hurricane plan, and stay in contact.

Make-up exams, plagiarism, etc…: Lecture exams are major scheduled events of the semester and should be prepared-for weeks in advance. There are no make-ups for exams or assignments. However, if a serious, problem arises that prevents you from taking a scheduled lecture exam, you must contact me prior to the exam or assignment date, or as soon as is humanly possible. In that way, I can assess if it is reasonable and fair -- to both you and your fellow students -- to make some accommodation.

I wish it wasn't necessary to include the following statements, but it's the nature of the world. Academia is based on trust and honesty. I have to trust that you will do your work honestly and you need to trust that I will evaluate it honestly. I will take very seriously any form of academic dishonesty, including cheating, plagiarism, or presenting work as your own when it isn't.  I will submit your writing assignments to Turnitin.com, a website that checks student papers for plagiarism. The following link (found on Loyola's WAC lab) includes a few well presented links on parsing out the differences between plagiarism, appropriate/inappropriate paraphrasing, and summarization --  http://www.loyno.edu/wac/owl/handouts.html#Plagiarism.

Refer to the Undergraduate Bulletin for a description of academic dishonesty and it's consequences.

Disabilities & Accommodations: A student with a disability that qualifies for accommodations should contact Sarah Mead Smith, Director of Disability Services at 865-2990 (Academic Resource Center, Room 405, Monroe Hall). A student wishing to receive test accommodations (e.g., extended test time) should provide me with an official Accommodation Form from Disability Services in advance of the scheduled test date. 


LECTURE SCHEDULE

Articles: Reprinted articles from the literature, available through the website or Loyola Library.

Some Advice: There is a tremendous amount of published material on the functional and evolutionary morphology of vertebrates I strongly advise you to keep-up with the reading -- otherwise you will be overwhelmed at test time. Good luck and enjoy!

LABORATORY SCHEDULE

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