Animal Behavior

 

What is it?

The study of animal behavior is interdisciplinary and draws upon the fields of molecular genetics, neurobiology, sensory physiology, experimental and field ecology, and evolution. These disciplines use theory, observation, and experimentation to elucidate proximate (how?) and ultimate (why?) mechanisms underlying animal behavior.  The course is comparative in that we will examine how behavior varies among diverse groups of critters, and the course is synthetic in that we will seek common ground among the behavioral repertoires of these diverse groups.  Evolution and natural selection provide the appropriate framework for this comparative and synthetic approach.

Tentative lecture topics

  • Introduction and evolutionary framework
  • Evolution and review of major animal phyla
  • Proximate and ultimate causes of bird songs
  • Development of behavior
  • Organization and control of behavior
  • Sensory biology
  • Predator avoidance
  • Prey selection
  • Habitat selection
  • Evolution of communication
  • Reproductive tactics
  • Mating systems
  • Parental care
  • Social systems
  • Evolution of human behavior

Instructor

 who?      Frank Jordan (Associate Professor and Slayer of Fishes)
 where?  MO 357 (office), MO 316 (lab), or just lurking about campus
 when?   Office hours: by appointment
 if not?   Phone: 865.3829 (office) or jordan@loyno.edu (email)

Meeting time and place

 See current Schedule of Classes.

Blackboard and email

All course materials and communications will be facilitated via Blackboard. You are responsible for all materials placed on Blackboard and you should check the Blackboard site regularly for new additions. You should also check your email regularly for last minute updates, modifications, jokes, etc. You will be added to the Animal Behavior site on Blackboard during the first week of classes.

Required textbooks

My lectures parallel the organization and content of Animal Behavior: an Evolutionary Approach by John Alcock. This book provides a tremendous synthesis of a rather expansive literature. Buy the book and you will have an excellent study guide. Finally, if my pace in lecture is too slow and you start to get bored, please feel free to request additional learning material.

Tests, research project, grading, and other nastiness

There will be three incredibly evil lecture exams that emphasize material addressed in lecture, readings outside of class, and your own personal experiences in evaluating how and why organisms behave the way they do. Each lecture exam will be comprised of a pleasant mixture of true or false, matching, and multiple choice questions. Each exam will focus on the material covered since the previous exam, although I reserve the right to include earlier material to ensure that you are synthesizing all of the ideas that we are covering in the course. No more than 20% of an exam will be on such earlier material.

You will prepare a 5-10 page research paper on an approved behavioral topic according to the tentative schedule below. The primary objectives of assigning a research paper are to encourage you to examine a discrete behavioral subject in greater detail and to help improve writing skills. You will receive no points for material turned in late!

You will complete an assignment for the Animal Diversity laboratory. Additional small assignments may be added as the semester progresses.

You are required to attend two seminars this semester during Tuesdays in Monroe 157 that are relevant to animal behavior. There is not a specific writing assignment, but a few questions about the seminars may show up on exams.

As usual, your grade will be determined using a complex system involving live sacrifice, casting of chicken bones, reading of entrails, and divine piscine revelation from the Holy Shad. Actually, your three exams, research paper , and miscellaneous assignments are worth a total of about 435 points. Receiving 60% of these points earns you a D, 70% of these points earns you a C, 80% of these points earns you a B, and 90% of these points earns you an A!

Advice and stuff

Since you are paying for this course, there is no attendance policy.  Although you will receive copies of my notes and have the textbook, you will quickly realize that I add supplementary material during lectures and that this material is highly likely to show up on tests!  Therefore, please come to class.  I do not have review sessions, but I am available virtually 24/7 via email to address your questions. I often forward questions and answers to everyone in the course.

"A student with a disability that qualifies for accommodations should contact 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 the instructor with an official Accommodation Form from Disability Services in advance of the scheduled test date."

Of course, you should feel free to contact me whenever you need help with Animal Behavior, life, the universe, or anything.  I would be happy to hear your abbreviated life stories and your projected life-history trajectories.  I don't have any money, so don't ask.

Finally, please feel free to offer suggestions and constructive criticism as the semester progresses. I strive to continually improve this course.