SYLLABUS: ORNITHOLOGY (BIO 559)

Spring 2016

Lecture: TR: 11-12:15, Rm: THM 109
Lab: R 8-11am, Ecological Research Facility

Instructor: David Westneat

Office: 104 MDR #3
Phone: 323-9499, E-mail: biodfw at uky.edu

TA: Tim Salzman and Kat Sasser

Office 106 MDR#3
Phone: 3-9499, E-mail: salzman.tim@gmail.com, kat.sasser@uky.edu.

Text: There will be no text for the lecture portion. We will use selected readings.

Lab Manual Required! Please obtain a field guide to birds, preferably one of the following:
Sibley’s "The Sibley Guide to Birds, 2nd Ed"
National Geographic Society’s "Field Guide to Birds of North America, 5th edition"
The field guide is necessary for lab. Please find BY THE FIRST LAB (JAN 22nd) at a bookstore or order online from sites like Amazon.

                                                SCHEDULE

Date

Subject

Reading

Jan 14

Introduction to course

None

19

Lecture: Evolutionary Principles applied to Birds

Web Search

21

Lab: Introduction to Lab and Bird ID (Have field guide in hand)

21

Lecture (Morgan 109): Selection

 

26

Lecture: Speciation

Paper

28

Lab: Winter Bird ID/Banding

28

Lecture (ERF) Example Paper Presentation

 

Feb. 2

Lecture: Diversity and Origins of Birds

Paper

4

Lab: Taxonomy/Systematics

4

Lecture (ERF): Avian Phylogeny

9

Lecture: Origin of Flight

Paper

11

Lab: Anatomy/Physiology

 

11

Lecture (ERF): Student Paper Presentation

17

Lecture: Functional Morphology of Flight

Paper

18

Lab: Winter birds field trip

 

18

Lecture (ERF) Student presentation

24

Lecture: Energy Budget and Metabolism

Paper

26

Lab: PRACTICAL 1, Wintering birds

 

26

Lecture (ERF): Catch-up and Review

 

March 1

Lecture: MIDTERM

 

3

Lab: FIELD TRIP: Biogeography of Waterfowl (Meet at 7:30 am)

3

Lecture: Lab con’t (done by noon)

8

Lecture: Social Behavior

Paper

10

Lab: FIELD TRIP: Social Dominance in WTSP

10

Lecture (Morgan 109): Social Behavior con’t

14-18

SPRING BREAK

23

Lecture: Sensory Ecology

Paper

25

Lab: FIELD TRIP: Early migrants

25

Lecture (ERF): Student presentation

 

29

Lecture: Migration and Navigation

Paper

31

Lab: FIELD TRIP: Mating Behavior at Maine Chance

 

31

Lecture (ERF): Student Paper Presentation/ Life of Birds

April 5

Lecture: Song

Paper

7

Lab: Blackbird lab at ERF

7

Lecture (ERF): Song con’t

12

Lecture: Mating and Parental Behavior

Paper

14

Lab: Field Trip: Spring Birds, Practical review

14

Lecture (ERF): Mating Behavior (con’t)

 

19

Lecture: Population Ecology

Paper

21

Lab: FIELD TRIP: Spring Migrants; PRACTICAL 2

21

Lecture (ERF): Student Paper Presentations

 

26

Lecture: Conservation Biology

Paper

28

Lab: FIELD TRIP: Spring Migrants/Mist-netting

28

Lecture (ERF): Student Paper Presentation, Final Review

 

 

 

Final: May 4, 10:30 AM, Morgan 109

Course Mechanics

Grading.- Grading is done separately for undergraduates and graduate students. Graduate students will have additional requirements, as noted below. For each, the graded portions of the course reflect the multiple aims described above. The lecture grade is divided into five parts.
(1 &2) The tests, a midterm and a final, will focus on how students have retained both factual information and the ability to think about ideas as they apply to birds. Graduate students will have an extra question to answer, which may be answered by undergrads for extra credit.
(3) Student presentations will occur on some of the Thursdays following lab. Depending on the number of students, each will pick one or two time slots in the term and then go to the recent scientific literature on birds and select an article of interest. The student will then present the purpose, methods, results, importance, and the quality of the study to the class. The presentation should be no longer than 15 min. Students should notify the instructor ahead of time what paper they are choosing to present. Graduate students must present an extra paper.
(4) Short summary paragraph and 3 questions prepared by students from assigned readings
(5) In-class participation, scored for each set of summaries turned in.
Lecture Point Scale

Total Lecture grade: 600 pts (750 for graduate students)
The lab portion of the course is divided into 4 parts:
(1) There will be two tests, one at midterm covering anatomy and systematics, and one at the end of the term focusing on field identification but including info from earlier in the term,
(2) During lab sessions, we will give short quizzes on the topic covered in lab or on identification. You may choose 5 of these to comprise your grade.
(3) Students will keep a notebook describing all lab activities and, in some cases, including some short writing assignments associated with particular labs. The notebook should also include any outside-of-lab birding activities.
(4) Students must do an independent project involving identifying and observing birds outside of class. Points for this part will be assigned for the quality of record keeping (a notebook or log of your activities and what you saw) and the quality of a scientific paper written about the data that you collected. That paper should reflect some thought and about the data you collected and a literature search of related studies.
Lab Point Scale:

  1. Tests (2)- 75 pts each (150 total)
  2. Quizzes (5)- 10 pts each (50 total)
  3. Notebook- 150 pts
  4. Independent project Write-up- 150 pts

Total Lab grade: 500 pts
Total pts in the course = 1100.
Letter grades will be based on 90%, 80%, 70%, etc. cut-offs. Improvement through the term will be rewarded.

Course Policies

1. Attendance: Attendance in lecture and lab is a necessary part of the course. In both, there will be graded activities that contribute to the final grade. Missing such activities due to unacceptable reasons will result in the loss of those points.

2. Excused Absences: S.R. 5.2.4.2 defines the following as acceptable reasons for excused absences:

a.         serious illness;

b.        illness or death of family member;

c.         University-related trips;

d.        major religious holidays;

e.         other circumstances you find to be "reasonable cause for nonattendance".

3. Make-up opportunity: Make-up tests will be offered to students who miss one due to an excused absence. For in-class graded activities, only part of the points can be made-up, since participation is a key component.Similarly, in lab, quizzes cannot be made-up since they depend on the activity in lab.  The syllabus contains several “extra” activities that can serve as make-ups as long as the number of absences is small. If you miss many sessions, please consult the instructor as soon as possible about what to do.

4. Verification of Absences: Senate Rule 5.2.4.2 states that faculty have the right to request "appropriate verification" when students claim an excused absence because of illness or death in the family.  The University Health Services (UHS) provides a printed statement that specifies that the University Health Services does not give excuses for absences from class due to illness or injury.  It will be possible for these forms to be date stamped to show that you visited University Health Services. 

5. Academic Integrity, Cheating and Plagiarism: Progress in science depends on the rigorous honesty of its practitioners. All work in this class must be your own, and plagerism will not be tolerated.  Some activities in this class will require cooperation and sharing of information. Other activities will involve consulting literature and using information therein. Appropriate citation of these sources is important and will be discussed at several times in class and lab. A link to a paper "Plagiarism: What is it?" may be found at the Ombud web site or can be accessed at http://www.uky.edu/Ombud/Plagiarism.pdf. The Ombud web site also includes a link to a Prentice Hall Companion Website "Understanding Plagiarism"  http://wps.prenhall.com/hss_understand_plagiarism_1/0,6622,427064-,00.html.

Penalties for violations of this policy can be found at http://www.uky.edu/USC/New/SenateRulesMain.htm.