SYLLABUS FOR BIOL 1501 IN FALL 2006

 

Instructor: Dr. A. G. Cook. (e-mail: gcook@waycross.edu)

 

Text: Miller, G. T. 2004. Living in the environment. 14th ed. Brooks/Cole, Pacific Grove, CA.

 

Grades: Your grade will be weighted according to the following facets of performance.

 

Class participation — 5%

Quizzes  — 14%
Exams — 19%
Final exam — 24%
Project — 27%
Students’ responses to essays whose text or hyperlink is posted on my website — 11%

 

Grade ranges

                                   

A: ≥90%, B: 80-89%, C: 70-79%, D: 60-69%, F: <60%.

                                                                       

WebCT Vista Quizzes

 

Quizzes will be administered to students via WebCT Vista. The times when quizzes are administered will be announced in class. Students are responsible for taking these quizzes while they are scheduled. If you are not certain of the dates when WebCT Vista quizzes will be administered, check the WebCT Vista website for BIOL 1501 to find out the time periods when exams are administered. After finishing a session of taking quizzes, be sure to log out of WebCT. If you do not log out before the computer that you were using is shut down, you may get an error message when you attempt to take the quiz.

 

       Being able enter the WebCT system on your home computer but being unable to get access to a quiz is usually indicates that the quiz is being prevented by pop-up blocker on your computer system. The pop-up blocker will need to disabled.

 

       A student who has missed ≥20% of classes may be dropped by the instructor and assigned a grade of WF.

                                

       For each credit hour for which you have registered, you are expected to spend ≥2 hours outside class in studying and preparing for BIOL 1501. It is important that you complete each reading assignment before the class is held in which it is discussed. Establish a schedule for studying for BIOL 1501, and follow the schedule just as you would a job schedule.

 

Course Objective

 

To give students a basic understanding of the interrelationships among species, and between species and their abiotic (nonliving) environment. Students will learn the distinguishing characteristics of the species that are treated in BIOL 1501. Students who study well should gain an appreciation of the finiteness of Earth’s natural resources, and of how humans’ burgeoning population exploits those resources and negatively affect other species. Particular attention will be given to species that are threatened with extinction, and that have become extinct, and the impact that humans have had on their endangerment or extinction. Air and water pollution, solid and toxic wastes, pests and their control, food production, nutrition, and energy production and efficiency will also be treated.

 

         Honesty.—Students are expected to be honest. Students who are found to have cheated or participated in plagiarism will suffer consequences (see Waycross College Student Handbook).

 

         Accessibility.—Waycross College is committed to providing accessibility to all students in accordance with ADA/504 guidelines. Contact the Director of Student Life about accessibility.

 

         Academic Support Center (ASC): Personnel from the ASC can tutor students in math, reading, and composition; in developing effective study techniques; and in taking objective and essay tests. Learning is facilitated via audiovisual and computerized aids, and individual tutoring.

 

         Dropping Course.—To drop a course, a student must obtain a drop/add form from his or her advisor or the Records Office, complete it, secure the required signatures, and submit the form to the Records Office by a deadline. Non-attendance does not constitute withdrawal.

 

Tasks That Must Be Performed By Students

 

Essays

 

Two essays and the hyperlinks to three other essays are posted on the Internet. Students must read the essays, and by 12 July, submit responses on all five essays simultaneously (not separately) as a hard printed document, or as one e-mail attachment (one attached document). Do not e-mail me essay responses that are not in an attachment. The attachment permits Word or WordPerfect documents to be e-mailed, which possess the formatting indicated below.

 

       Each typed essay response must occupy at least ½ page single spaced, except that the response to the essay on bees in California must be $1 page single spaced. All margins must be ≤ 2.5 cm (1 inch). The typeface used in your response must be no greater than 12 pt. Each essay response ought to recount what you deem to be the most important or interesting information that you gleaned from that essay. Do not use statements such as “Muir explained …”, “After describing …”, “He listed”, or “After explaining …” Provide detailed examples. Your response may include contemplative reflections. I want to be convinced that you read every word of the essays. In responding to Muir’s essay on bees in California, do not provide any information about bee-keeping and do not supply very much information about bees. Focus on Muir’s descriptions of nature or how nature had been damaged.

 

PROJECT

 

Working with the Georgia Department of Natural Resources, Division of Wildlife Resources in reducing the impact of invasive species that are negative impacting Georgia’s rivers.

 

Extra Credit

 

Peruse books in both the non-reference and reference sections of the Waycross College Library (particularly in the reference section) whose call number begins with Q or S (particularly QL, QH, and to a lesser extent QK). Find a part of a book whose information interests you, and report on it. To ascertain whether any of the species about which you are reading are threatened with extinction, check that matter on http://www.redlist.org .

 

       You can perform extra-credit work on the relationship between the size and shape of the bill of each of a set of Darwin's finches from the Galapagos Islands, and their diet and niche. Delineate the foods of each species and how each finch's beak facilitates foraging. Provide pictures of the finches that clearly show their bill. Note on which islands each avian species lives.

 

       Alternatively, you can specify how the shape and size of the bills of different Hawaiian birds in the tribe Drepanidini (often considered to be the family Drepanididae) help them to forage and prosper in their different environments. Show pictures of various species which clearly show the shape and size of the bill. You can find 32 extant (currently living) and extinct members of the Drepanidine tribe by visiting the website www.redlist.org.

 

       Another way to earn extra points is to learn song of birds from Southeast Georgia. These songs can be downloaded from the Internet. Also, you can obtain CDs from me which contain these songs.

 

SCHEDULE FOR BIOL 1501 (ECOLOGY) — SPRING 2007

 

This schedule may be modified.

 

9 Jan                     Discussion of the syllabus. PowerPoint presentation on chemistry.

11 Jan                   Chemistry PowerPoint presentation, Miller 2007: S27-S33.

                            WebCT quiz on chemistry begins.

16 Jan                   PowerPoint presentation on cells and the function of genes (transcription and translation).

                            WebCT quiz on cells and the function of genes begins.

18 Jan                   Ecological definitions: Chapter 3, pp. 51-58, and 56-64); Chapter 4:89-91.

                            Begin PowerPoint presentation on mitosis and meiosis.

23 Jan                   Conclude PowerPoint presentation on mitosis and meiosis.

                            WebCT quiz on mitosis and meiosis begins.

25 Jan                   PowerPoint presentation on Chapter 4 regarding evolution 

30 Jan                   Practical in-class quiz on mitosis & meiosis.

                            Conclude Chapter 4.

                            WebCT quiz on Chapter 4 begins.

1 Feb                    Begin PowerPoint presentation on non-animal taxa and S34-S35.

6 Feb                    Conclude PowerPoint presentation on non-animal taxa.

                            WebCT quiz on non-animal taxa begins.

8 Feb                    Remainder of Chapter 3

13 Feb                   Exam 1 on chemistry, cells and the function of genes, mitosis & meiosis, Chapter 4, and non-animal taxa

                            WebCT quiz on Chapter 3 begins

15 & 20 Feb          PowerPoint presentation on aquatic taxa and types of wetlands delineated in Chapter 6.

                            WebCT Quiz on Chapter 6 begins.

22 Feb                   Chapter 8 — PowerPoint presentations on keystone species and interspecific interactions

27 Feb                   Conclude PowerPoint presentation on mutualism (part of Chapter 7).

                            Begin PowerPoint presentation on Chapter 5 on biomes.

                            WebCT quiz on Chapter 8 begins.

1 Mar                    Conclude PowerPoint presentation on Chapter 5 on biomes.

                            WebCT quiz on Chapter 5 begins.

6 Mar                    Chapter 8 on population

8 Mar                    Chapter 9 and notes on population

                            WebCT quiz on population begins

13 & 15 Mar          Spring break (no classes)

20 Mar                  Regents’ testing day (no class)

22 Mar                  Exam 2 on Chapters 3, 4, 6, 7, 5 and on population (Chapters 8 and 9)

27 & 29 Mar          Chapter 13

                            WebCT quiz on Chapter 13 begins

3 April                   Chapters 14

                            WebCT quiz on Chapter 14 begins

5 April                   Chapter 16

                            WebCT quiz on Chapter 16 begins

10 April                 Chapter 17      

                            WebCT Quiz on Chapter 17 begins

12 April                 Chapter 19

                            WebCT on Chapter 19 begins

17 April                 Chapters 20 and 21

                            WebCT quiz on Chapter 20 begins     

19 April                 Chapters 21

                            WebCT quiz on Chapter 21 begins

 

24 April                 Chapters 22

                            WebCT quizzes on Chapter 22 begins

26 April                 Exam 3

30 Apr and 1 May   Invasive species, endangerment, extinction and conservation

8 May @ 8:00 a.m. Comprehensive Final Exam

 

It is important that you complete each reading assignment before the class is held in which it is discussed.