Biology 4102 - Seminar

Biology 4102
Seminar Syllabus, Fall 2001
Dr. JON A. BASKIN
Office: Nierman 106 -- Telephone: 361 593-3580 -- e-mail: kfjab02

    Office Hours: 2-4 WF, 8-10 TTh, or by appointment. University duties, such as committee meetings, may prevent me from being in my office. I will also usually be available in the mammalogy laboratory BES 103)  M afternoon. If you have any questions or concerns, please talk to me before or after class or phone me at the office for an appointment

BIOLOGY 4102   Seminar 1(1-0)

Course Description: Current biological literature with critical class reports. Course may be repeated for credit. Prerequisite: 12 semester hours of biology.

OBJECTIVES:  Students will present seminars and participate in discussions importance of sexual selection and evolution to biology and other human endeavors based on readings from the required text and journal.  They will also take an exam to assess their mastery of the biological sciences as a result of their education at TAMUK (fee $21).

Required Text

• Tim Birkhead.  2000. Promiscuity: An Evolutionary History of Sperm Competition and Sexual Conflict. 272 pp. Harvard University Press.  available from Amazon.com and Barnesandnoble.com

 Required Reading

• In the second half of the semester, seminars will be devoted to discussing articles in Trends in Ecology & Evolution (TREES).  This Journal is available in the library or via the internet through the Jernigan Library.  Click on the online databases menu, choose ScienceDirect; then group-wide login; then browse; then t; then select Trends in Ecology & Evolution.  Articles can be downloaded as Adobe Acrobat files.  You can download the Adobe Acrobat reader for free.

Web Sites of Interest

• sperm competition and mate guarding--Napier University--Animal Behavior--Dr. Ladle
• Sperm competition in fish:`bourgeois' males and parasitic spawning Michael Taborsky Trends in Ecology and Evolution 1998, 13:222-22
• Sperm Competition in nematodes.  Craig LaMunyon, University of Arizona
• University of Minnesota Monarch Reproduction Research Projects:  Factors that Affect Reproductive Success in Male and Female Monarchs  Dr. Karen Oberhauser Department of Ecology, Evolution and Behavior University of Minnesota
  St. Paul MN
  •  Whose Sperm Fertilize the Female's Eggs if She Mates More Than Once?
• BIOL B242 Evolution of Sex and sexual Selection- a pdf file from Evolutionary Genetics, University College London
• debunking 'kamakaze sperm' from Jim Cummins
• Psychology 473 Lecture Notes-Sperm Competition.  University of Calgary
• biolology and evolutionary theory from the Talk.Origin archives
• five major misconceptions about evolution from the Talk.Origin archives
• Steven Jay Gould versus the selectionists
• Darwin and Darwinism from Baruch College
• Evolutionary Theory - from the Evolutionary Psychology site at the U C Santa Barbara
• A new look at Haeckel's embryos

• Evolution Update - recent articles from Science, Nature, etc.
• Science wave - current Evolutionary Biology news articles
• Science and Creationism - Resources from the National Academy of Sciences
• National Center for Science Education
• Donald Simanek's page - everything you need to know

Grading

• Seminar attendance, participation, and leadership (100%)
  • Each week, leaders will be selected to summarize the chapters briefly and to lead and guide the seminar.
  • Every seminar participant must come to each seminar meeting prepared to discuss the assigned reading and to ask questions for other participants to answer.
  • Seminar will meet once a week for one hour.  You are expected to attend every seminar and to participate in the discussion.   Attendance and participation (or failure to participate) will affect each seminar participant's final grade.

• Major Field Exam

All students must take (or have taken) the Biology major field exam or they will receive a grade of  I (incomplete).  The exam will be administered in early November and is used to assess the quality of your biology education at this university.   The results of this examination will reflect the reputation of this department and, since you will hold a biology degree from here, on you.

Plagiarism Statement:  Cheating and Plagiarism

"Students are expected to do their own course work. Simple cases of first offense cheating or
plagiarism by an individual student may be handled by the instructor after consultation with
the department chair. When the evidence is indisputable, the usual penalty is a grade of F on
the particular paper or in the course."  (TAMUK1998-2000 catalog: page 55).   You will receive an F. Academic misconduct includes "plagarizing or submitting academic work for credit that includes examinations, themes, reports, drawings, laboratory notes, computer-processed materials, published or unpublished material copied or paraphrased without documentation or citation."  (TAMUK 1999-2000 Student handbook, p. 61).  Plagiarism includes more than the turning in a paper containing material from books, magazines, web sites or other sources written by someone else.  Plagiarism also includes paraphrasing ideas from such sources without acknowledging them.  Always cite the source of your information.   Assisting another student to cheat or plagiarize is also serious academic misconduct and will be punished accordingly.

Tentative Schedule

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