BEHAVIORAL BIOLOGY Spring 2014 Dr. Joanna Burger
Tues 10:20am -11:40am (RC-2) Nelson Hall B 218
12:00pm -1:20pm (RC-2) 732 445 4318
Thurs 12:00pm -1:20pm (RC-2)
Overall Goal:
To have a basic understanding of the function, biological significance, causation and evolution of animal behavior.
Learning Goals
- To understand basic areas of animal behavior, particularly as they relate to the biological and ecological basis, focusing mainly on animals in the wild.
- To be able to objectively understand and evaluate information about animal behavior and ecology encountered in our daily lives.
- To understand and be able to objectively evaluate the role of behavior in the protection and conservation of animals in the wild.
- To consider and evaluate behavior of all animals, including humans, in the complex ecological world, including the urban environment.
- To conduct a behavioral study.
Overall Approach
- Lectures
- Movies that depict specific behavior or behavioral ecology of individual species, groups of species, or species within their ecosystems.
- Term papers which, over the years, have included behavioral observations of animals in the wild, observations of humans as surrogates, review of animal behavior from a range of books, evaluation of a behavioral topic using my naturalists books (Pine Barrens or Jersey shore animals).
- Course includes lecture + lab, arranged to facilitate the work (i.e. sometimes lectures are during the lab period, and sometimes labs are in the lecture period, depending upon the time required).
Cuvier Alexander St. Hilaire Trivers
Mill Krebs Flourens Emlen
Spencer Wilson Darwin Lovejoy
Pavlov Mock Sechenov Goodall
Ebbinghaus Fossey Thorndike Goldikas
Marler Watson Mayr Skinner
HullHertheimer Kobler Koffka Huxley
Heinroth Whitman Craig Howard
Lorenz Tinbergen Von Frisch Lehrman
Beach Thorpe Dilger
BEHAVIORAL BIOLOGY Spring 2014 Dr. Joanna Burger
Tues 10:20am -11:40am, 12:00pm -1:20pm (RC-2) Nelson Hall B 218
Thurs 12:00pm -1:20pm (RC-2) 732 445 4318
TEXT: J. Alcock – Animal Behavior (7th or 8th edition) and J. Burger - A Naturalist Along the Jersey Shore
WEEK |
CHAPTER/ ASSIGNMENT |
TOPICS COVERED |
21-23 January |
Chapter 1 |
Introduction to course; goals, assignments, grades. What is ethology, why study ethology, what kinds of questions do ethologists ask? |
28 Jan |
Chapter 2 |
Example of Field Work (M. Allen) |
30 January- 6 February |
Chapter 3 (part) |
History of ethology from Egyptian depictions of behavior to the present Methodologies of study of behavior, experimentation, biases. |
4 February |
Double Lab |
|
11 February |
Survey Due |
Complex behavior; learning |
13 February |
Review; Book report directions |
|
18 February |
Exam 1 |
|
20, 25 February |
Chapter 8 (part) Double lecture |
Aggression and dominance, pecking orders, territoriality. Term Paper Directions |
27 Feb |
|
|
4, 6 March |
Literature Review (M. Allen) |
|
11March |
Chapter 2 Double Lecture |
Displays and communication Approval of Term Paper Topic |
13 March |
Exam 2 |
|
16-22 March |
Spring Break |
|
25 to 3 April |
Field work |
Meet 25 March at beginning of class for consultation |
1, 3 April |
Field work |
Meet 1 April at beginning of class for consultation |
8, 10 April |
Chapter 6,9 |
Message-meaning analysis; navigation/orientation |
15, 17 April |
Chapter 3 |
|
17 April |
TERM PAPER DUE |
Social organization |
21, 23 April |
Chapter 6, 13 |
Social Organization, Animals in groups |
29 April |
Chapter 4, 5 |
Biological Clock, Endocrine Disruptors |
1 May |
Review |
|
6 May |
Exam 3 |
|
COURSE GRADES – Grade point average whereby 90+ = A; 80-89 = B, 70-79 = C; below = D
GRADE POINT AVERAGE of:
Points on Exam 1 (around 100 points) Book Report (100 points)
Points on Exam 2 (around 100 points) Term Paper (200 points)
Points on Exam 3 (around 100 points) Survey (50 points)
Grade is average of points earned divided by total points (about 650). NO EXTRA CREDIT.