Vertebrate Zoology Syllabus

General Information

Welcome to Vertebrate Zoology. I expect students to attend every class (you'll get the most for your money this way as well). The text must be purchased and the suggested reading should be done prior to that lecture topic.
The objective of this course is to instill an understanding of the evolution of vertebrate life, as well as a clearer understanding of how to do science. Doing science requires a distinct kind of thinking. Hopefully, you will all finish the course with a deeper sense of the profundity of evolution and a scientific approach to problem-solving.
We will examine the evolutionary past of vertebrates, and the evolutionary relationships of living vertebrates. Part of the course will focus on anatomy, especially as regards adaptation or function within unique ecological niches. We will also examine the natural history and some physiology of example organisms of the different classes of vertebrates.
The labs will be a combination of observation, drawing, note-taking, dissection, and field trips (see course outline below).

Text 1986. Leonard Radinsky. The Evolution of Vertebrate Design. Chicago University Press, Chicago, IL.

Grading

There will be four exams equally weighted (100 points each) and with roughly equal amounts of information; the final may have an optional comprehensive section. The lab is not a separate grade in this course. Therefore, your performance in lab will contribute to your final grade in the course. The relative value of your lab work depends upon whether your work is better than your exam grade average (in which case the lab is 40% of your final grade) or worse than your exam grade average (in which case the lab is worth 20% of your final grade). The grade for lab is based upon the work you submit in a lab notebook one week before the end of classes.