Preliminary Syllabus:

Course objectives:

The goal of this course will be  to simulate investigative research by focusing on experimental design and hypotheses testing, data collection, analysis and interpretion, and communication of results to in a mini-symposium format.  Students will be expected to gain an understanding of many of the physiological problems associated with living in different environments and become familiar with many of the physiological patterns and systems that have evolved allowing animals to survive and successfully reproduce despite environmental constraints. 

In lecture, for each central issue, such as metabolism, we will discuss environmental constraints imposed by different habitats, physiological limitations and adaptations to these constraints, methods of evaluating these physiological variables, data interpretation, and compare species and taxa based largely on evaluation of the primarily literature. 

Labs will combine teaching of physiological concepts with training in the scientific method.  Students will take responsibility for the forming hypotheses based on the findings of previous studies, designing experiments, undertaking data collection, using data analysis, graphing, and statistical software, and learning to communicate results of research to the scientific community.  This design will encourage team building and cooperative research skills that are essential to all scientists entering our field where there is a very strong emphasis on collaborative multi-investigator and multi-disciplinary research. 

During the last five weeks of the course students will design, conduct, analyze and report a independent group investigation using the iWorx system.  Students will be responsible for all aspects of the development of these projects, from writing a short proposal to the finishing formal conference style presentations of data at the end of the course. 

Textbook and reading:

Bradshaw, D. 2003. Vertebrate Ecophysiology.  Cambridge University Press.

Additional readings will be put on reserve in the Kimbel library.

Course format:

Unlike many of your science courses, lecture and lab for this class will not be considered two distinct entities.  The material you cover in each will often be closely linked.  Therefore, you will be given this same grade for lecture and laboratory, with lecture and laboratory participation, literature reviews, exams, laboratory assignments and your final project all contributing to your final grades.

Attendance:

Lecture and laboratory will include significant discussion of the primary literature.  A large part of your grade (20%) will be base on participation.  Therefore, it is essential to attend lecture to do well in this class. 

Make-up exams will not be given except for DOCUMENTED university excused absences (see current university catalog for details).  PLEASE contact Dr. Hood BEFORE the exam by phone or email if you are ill or have a conflict.

Evaluation of your performance:

You will be evaluated based on your performance the following:

Item                                                Max score

Exam 1 written                                      100

Exam 2 written                                      100

Final                                                     100

Lab reports (50 pts ea)                           150

Lab assignments (25 pts ea)                     50

Participation                                          200

Final research project                             300

Total point possible:                              1000

Grading scale:

A 100-90%, B+ 89-86%, B 85-80%, C+ 79-76%, C 75-70%,

D+ 69-66%, D 65-60%, F < 59%