This course is designed to introduce you to the diversity of insects and their lifestyles. Lectures will include taxonomic topics covering the orders and major families, structure and function, basic physiology, ecology, and the interaction of insects with humans. Laboratory will concentrate on collecting of insects in the field and doing short field exercises, accompanied by indentification in the lab.
All students should have completed one year of introductory biology before enrolling in this course.
Grades for the course will be based on points assigned to the
various exams and projects as follows:
Click on each item to read about the specifics.
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Item |
Pts. |
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Quizzes (5 at 25, drop low score) |
100 |
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Midterms (4 at 75 each) |
300 |
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100 |
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100 |
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25 |
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100 |
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150 |
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Total |
875 |
Grades will be assigned based on the following scale:
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IDENTIFICATION QUIZZES AND FINAL
During the course of the term there will be representative specimens of all 31 orders and about 100 families of insects in the laboratory for your study. For the identification quizzes and ID final, you will be expected to make order or family level determinations of these groups without aid of text or notes. Spelling will be checked. Incorrectly spelled names will be penalized by a loss of 1/4 credit.
The midterm and final lecture exams will cover material presented in lecture and the appropriate sections of the text. Life history information about each required order and family will be covered on these exams. Each topic and group will be covered in lecture, but you should read the text material under each group as we cover it in class. Material from most of the non-taxonomic lectures is not covered well by our text, and you may want to refer to other texts. Perhaps the most useful is "The Insects: Structure and Function", by R. F. Chapman. Much of my lecture material comes from this book.
The collection will be composed of specimens that you or others collect and identify during the term. Each specimen that you turn in must be properly labelled with location, date of collection, and the name of the collector. On a separate label, identify the insect to order or family. There are simple instructions for making these labels using Microsoft Word. The first occurrence of each correct order will be worth 3 points and the first of each correct family will be worth 1 point. Each additional life stage of that order or family that you turn in is worth another 1/2 point.
Specimens must be correctly identified to get credit. Order level errors will result in a 4 point deduction from your score. Although the highest possible score is 100, points above 100 are important because of error subtractions. Painful experience indicates that incorrect identifications will lower more grades than lack of specimens. If you are not confident in your identification, do not include the specimen for grading. In each case the first specimen in your box under that category will be graded. I will be glad to look at questions you have on non-graded specimens. Each collection must be accompanied by a typed check list of the orders and families that are being submitted for grading. Please have this check list in the order you have the specimens in your collection. Don't put this list off, it takes more time than you think, and last minute mistakes are common (e.g. putting a family in the wrong order).
At the midpoint of the term we will have a collection check to make sure you have gotten a good start on the collection. At this point you should have 12 orders and 25 families identified (with some effort it should be possible to have many more) and labelled properly. You should check with me ahead of time to make sure you are on the right track.
As a part of a larger project involving many classes to survey the flora and fauna at Dixie Plantation, our class will be concentrating on one group of insects at the plantation. The points for the project will be divided into 3 sets of 50 each. The first set of 50 points will be for a literature search on a group of 5 species from our chosen insect group that will be assigned to each class member (due at midterm). The second set of 50 points will be for the 1st drafts of your web pages. These will be written based on the information you gather during the literature search and from collection records. The final 50 points will be assigned for the final drafts of the web pages. The total for the project will be 150 points.
Click here to see an example literature search. You can also visit example web pages from other classes.
Textbook
An Introduction to the Study of Insects, 6th ed., by Borror, Triplehorn and Johnson.
Supplies
Most of your supplies will be supplied by the school. Please do not use these excessively; they are very expensive (they amount to well more than your lab fee).