*Statistical
Tests and critical value
tables available through the Student Resources page*
See
newly posted guidelines for how proposals will be evaluated in the
Student Resources page
Summary
of Ethology
Themes now
available on the syllabus
Photo
Gallery
Instructor:
Dr. Jane
Brockmann (hjb@zoology.ufl.edu)
ZOO6515
Course
Objectives and Requirements
*A username and password
is required to access some pages created for
this course.*
Objectives: The objective of this course is to provide you with the
background you need to conduct behavioral research from an ethological
perspective. The course is taught in three parts. The first part will provide you with the background to
understand the questions posed in the field of Animal Behavior / Ethology.
The second part will be an in-depth discussion of some of the most
exciting new ideas in the field. The
third part of the course will emphasize how to conduct ethological research, how
to evaluate ideas effectively, and how to present research.
The objective is to apply the ideas and methods you have learned to your
own research problems.
Time,
Place, and Course Organization:
Lecture: Wed. and Fri. 10:40-12:35; Lab: 12:50-5:00 and two
weekend field trips. Labs meet in 110 Carr.
Wednesday of each week will be devoted to going over basic animal
behavior. The first part of Friday
will be a discussion of current research in the field and the second part
(afternoon lab) will be directed toward practical applications, although the two
sessions on Friday will not always be clearly delineated.
Requirements:
(1)
Essays. 1/6 of grade. Each week (total of
15; you need to write 4 over the semester) you will receive a take-home
question to evaluate your understanding of the basic material. The question
will be based on your understanding of the Lecture, Alcock chapter and web
site material for that week and necessary additional reading. You must
disperse your essays over the semester: one from the first 4 weeks, one from
the next 3 weeks (mechanisms of behavior); two from weeks 8-15 (adaptiveness
of behavior) (totaling 4 essays; each is due on the date that is stated in the
syllabus; you may not hand in these essays later than that date).
These essays will also help you to gain practice in using and writing
about concepts in the field of animal behavior. You will be evaluated on your effectiveness in organizing and
presenting concepts and in answering the question posed and on your knowledge
of the material (i.e. the depth of your reading).
(2)
Discussions.
1/6 of grade. There will
be weekly class discussions (total of 12; usually on Friday and on field
trips) that will require reading, preparation and class participation.
These discussions will often be led by students in the class and will
involve explaining a paper or concept, or will involve group reports from
out-of-class discussions. You
will be evaluated on your effectiveness in presenting ideas and in posing
interesting questions and on your knowledge of the material (i.e. the depth of
your reading and preparation for the discussion).
(3)
Assignments. 1/3 of grade.
We will give weekly assignments (total of 9) in which we will ask you
to make use of the techniques you have learned in the lab and discussion, be
it describing behavior or conducting an experiment or analyzing data.
At the beginning of the semester, you should choose a locally available
species (if possible, this should be your research animal or a closely related
species) that you can stick with throughout the semester and that you can use
for your final grant proposal (you may use caged animals if you can achieve a
sample size of at least 10, but you may not use your own domestic pets).
If the species is a vertebrate, you will need to have IACUC approval. The idea is that you will apply each of the techniques that
we learn in lab to your species (sometimes this will involve collecting data,
sometimes simply designing a project around the species based on what you know
about the species). This will
allow you to increment your knowledge and understanding of your system
throughout the semester. Most of
all, this approach will allow you to take what you have learned and apply it
to a new system.
(4)
Grant Proposal.
1/3 of grade. As a way of
encouraging you to draw together and use material from the entire course, we
will ask you to write a grant proposal using your chosen species.
The final grant proposal will reflect the methods and ideas you have
learned in the course. In the
grant request you will need to demonstrate your knowledge of animal behavior
by proposing an exciting research project based on what you have learned in
this course. The proposal
should address important questions in the field of animal behavior and the
proposed research should contribute in important ways to our understanding of
that important problem and make use of the techniques and approaches you have
learned this semester. This
proposal will need to be one that integrates proximate and ultimate approaches
and one that uses field and lab, and observational and experimental
approaches, i.e. the proposal must use the themes that have been emphasized
throughout the semester. The proposal also needs to reflect the modern
approaches to animal behavior that you have learned in this course. It should
include pilot data that you have collected during the semester.
The format of the proposal will be that required for the NSF Animal
Behavior Program. This proposal
is due no later than Wednesday, 14 December.
No exceptions to this final deadline are possible so plan your
semester accordingly.
Reading: Two texts are required for this course:
(1)
J. Alcock. 2005. Animal Behavior.
Eighth edition only. Sinauer
Associates.
(2)
P. Martin and P. Bateson. Measuring
Behavior. Second edition.
Cambridge University Press.
Both
texts are available at Goerings’ Book Store, 1st Ave. between 17th
and 18th streets.
Additional
reading from the literature will be required each week; they are available from
the library or on-line.
Contact:
Dr.
Jane Brockmann: 320 Bartram, hjb@zoology.ufl.edu;
392-1297 Office hours: Wednesday
afternoon
Becca Hale: 614 Carr,
hale@zoology.ufl.edu;
Office hours: Thursday 2-4 pm
Chairman
of the Zoology Department: Dr. David Evans, 223 Bartram.
Content by H.J. Brockmann. Site maintained by
Becca Hale
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Drawing
from the Grotte Chauvet in the Rhone Alps region of southern
France.
This
picture of the now extinct European Lion, along with pictures of
many other species,
was
drawn about 30,000 years ago. Humans
have observed animal behavior for a very long time!
This page looks
best with Internet Explorer. We welcome your comments on the
content and design of these pages.
Updated 8/30/05 by Becca
Hale
