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Tropical Animal Behavior
This course covers basic field methods and important theoretical concepts in animal behavior. With a combination of lectures, group field exercises, and individual research projects, students will become immersed in the natural history, behavioral ecology, and evolution of neotropical forest fauna or marine fauna. The first half of the course introduces students to the local ecosystems and natural history, and to field methods, hypothesis testing, and data analysis. The ideas, methods, and practical knowledge acquired in the first half will be used and synthesized in the second half of the course in which each student designs and carries out his or her own research project. Due to the presence of both marine and terrestrial habitats at the Bocas del Toro Biological Station, the number of potential behavioral subjects is immense, and ranges from mammals, amphibians, reptiles, birds, and insects and other arthropods in terrestrial ecosystems to fishes, turtles, dolphins, mollusks, echinoderms, and crustaceans in marine ecosystems. Students will be expected to spend large amounts of time in the forest or on the water, engaging organisms firsthand, looking for puzzles, observing with those questions and relevant hypotheses in mind, and in general trying to understand the adaptive function of an organism's behavior.
Formal lectures will take place in the field station's classrooms. In addition, informal lectures will be given periodically during orientation walks (when you first arrive), during group field projects, or in discussion groups. These will cover a wide variety of topics and will generally be prompted by what we encounter in the field, or by the direction taken during group discussions. Breakfast or evening discussions later in the course will provide an informal forum to hash out practical problems and refine questions and methods encountered in the course of individual research.
Martin, P. and Bateson, P. 1993. Measuring Behaviour: An Introductory Guide (second edition). Cambridge University Press, New York. ISBN 0-521-44614-7 (paperback).
A required course pack of short readings will be available for purchase (~$25) from me in Panama. The papers include important theoretical contributions to evolution, tropical ecology, and animal behavior, as well as some particularly surprising examples of what animals do, and how insightful researchers come to understand them. The course pack includes the following papers (though I may make a few changes by the time the course starts):
The student's understanding of tropical ecosystems, and what they are likely to find there, will be greatly enhanced if they read one or more of the following books before arriving in Panama.
All students participate in several group projects, which introduce basic field techniques, research methods, and hypothesis testing. With guidance from the instructor, groups formulate a research question, design field methods, and collect data. Students will analyze and write up the results, and present an oral report to the rest of the class.
Each student will design and complete an individual research project. The project may deal with any topic in tropical animal behavior, terrestrial or aquatic. Working closely with the instructor, students will submit written project proposals by the middle of the second week, which will be evaluated on conceptual validity and analytical design. The final two weeks of the course are largely devoted to gathering and analyzing data for these projects. Students will present their findings to the class on the final day, in addition to submitting their results in a written report.
Last Update:12-Dec-2002 9:29 PM |
