EARS 31: Paleobiology
Spring 2012 Syllabus
Introduction
The Earth formed around 4.5 billion years ago and the first, albeit somewhat controversial, evidence for
life is found only 700 million years later! Living organisms have, therefore, been present for 85% of
the history of the Earth and have shaped the planet in a myriad of different ways as life has evolved.
Incremental, frequently infinitesimal changes in morphology over inconceivably long time periods
have produced the tens of millions (if not more!) of species that we see interacting around us today.
Fortuitous confluences of geological forces have led to the preservation of evidence of past life for
millions, and in some cases billions, of years.
In this course we will investigate: how life, from individual organisms to entire ecosystems, has
changed during its 3.8 billion year history; the processes that can lead to the preservation of organic
remains over geological time periods; and many of the ways in which we can make inferences about
biological processes from the limited, often biased information preserved in the fossil record. I hope
this course will provide you with a firm foundation of tools and knowledge that you will be able to use
to find the answers to any questions you might have about the history of life.
Instructor:
Office Location:
Office Hours:
Phone:
Email:
Jason Moore
222 Fairchild Hall
MW 2-4pm
(603) 646 6954
Jason.R.Moore@dartmouth.edu (take care, there is more than one Jason Moore
teaching at Dartmouth)
TA:
Office Location:
Office Hours:
Phone:
Email:
Sam Michalak
218 Fairchild Hall
Thursday 4-5 pm and Sunday 6-7 pm
(603) 646 2785
Samuel.A.Michalak.GR@cloud.dartmouth.edu
Time Period:
X-Hours:
Classroom:
Lab:
11 (MWF 11:15-12:20)
Tu 12:00-12:50 (will be used to give class presentations)
405 Fairchild Hall
3B Tu (4:00-5:50pm), 405 Fairchild Hall, or just outside
In addition to lectures and labs, two field trips will be scheduled at some point during the term. These
trips are weather dependent and will be co-ordinated with another class, so their dates aren't fixed at the
moment. We will discuss the timing of these field trips during the first lecture. While these trips aren't
mandatory, I feel very strongly that the best way to gain an understanding of any geological science is
to see its raw data in context – for much of paleobiology this means looking at fossils in the field.
Consequently, I strongly encourage you to participate.
Pre-requisites
One introductory level science course or its equivalent, or permission of the instructor. Students should
be familiar with the Scientific Method.
Textbook
Introduction to Paleobiology and the Fossil Record, 1st Edition
Michael J. Benton and David A. T. Harper, 2009, Wiley-Blackwell Press
ISBN: 978-1-4051-4157-4
$79.95 (Softcover)
This text is required for the course. Many paleontology courses spend a large amount of time
cataloguing the variety of life through geological time. I think that it is more important, and more
interesting, to learn about the processes that have shaped this variety, the utility of paleontology as a
geological and biological science and the impacts that living organisms have on their environment.
Consequently I am going to assign readings from this book to build a familiarity with the many groups
of organisms that we will discuss and build advanced concepts on that knowledge during lecture and
lab periods.
There is a companion website for this textbook at www.blackwellpublishing.com/paleobiology. I will
post any additional material on Blackboard as and when it is needed.
Course Format
The course will be a mix of lectures, labs, presentations and field trips. Getting through 3.8 billion
years of the history of life in one term is a pretty daunting prospect, so I'll be moving through topics
pretty fast. I will try to put as much material online as possible, so you can review it at your leisure.
Being able to ask questions is one of the most important skills that a scientist can have, so I encourage
you to raise a hand and ask a question of me, or of your fellow students, if anything seems unclear. I
may ask for your thoughts at some points during lectures. This is a way for me to make sure that I'm
being successful in getting my point across and to use as a starting point for further discussion. I am
interested in your thoughts and opinions, not the perceived “correct” answer – there may not even be
one!
As a side note, prepare yourselves to deal with British English spellings and pronunciations. Please
speak if any translation is necessary.
Expectations
Any course you take comes with a set of expectations regarding its conduct. I feel that it helps to lay
these out prior to the course.
As the instructor, you can expect me to:
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Design and present a course to introduce you to paleobiology in the most thorough manner
possible in the time available.
Provide timely, candid feedback about your work.
Work with you to ensure that you understand all of the concepts that I am presenting to you.
Respect and value your contributions to the class.
Listen to any questions or concerns that you might have and work to resolve them.
As students, I will expect you to:
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Complete all the assignments that I set to the best of your ability in a timely manner.
Actively participate in class and respect the participation of everyone else.
Raise any concerns you may have at the earliest opportunity so that they can be dealt with as
quickly and easily as possible.
Inform me of absences as soon as you know of them.
Refrain from using mobile phones or the internet during classes. I will trial the use of laptops to
take notes, but may decide against this if it becomes too distracting.
Grading
Your final grade will be based on your performance in five different areas, weighted as below:
Class presentations: 15%
Written exercises: 20%
Lab exercises: 20%
Mid-term exam : 20%
Final exam: 25%
During the X-hour each week, groups of students will give short presentations in styles of their
choosing summarizing the key features and events relating to different groups of organisms. The
number of individual presentations that you will give will depend on the number of students enrolled in
the class, but will be at least two. We may not end up using all of the X-hours, depending on the
number of students in each presenting group. I will drop the mark from the lowest graded of your
presentations when calculating your final score in this category.
There will be a minimum of five written assignments given during the course of the class. These will
be due at 5pm, one week after they are assigned. I will drop the mark from the lowest graded of your
submitted written assignments when calculating your final score in this category. Assignments that are
late without prior consent will be docked 30% followed by an additional 2.5% per hour late.
Each lab will have a series of exercises associated with it. These will be due at 5pm the day prior to the
next lab. I will drop the mark from the lowest graded of your submitted lab assignments when
calculating your final score in this category. Assignments that are late without prior consent will be
docked 30% followed by an additional 2.5% per hour late.
Exams will be a mix of short answer questions, long answer questions and calculations.
It is difficult to provide a “hard and fast” list of grading criteria, but the list below should provide a
general overview of how I will assign letter grades (consider this an extension of the information in the
ORC - http://www.dartmouth.edu/~reg/courses/grade_descriptions.html):
A: Superlative work. Shows a thorough grasp of all of the presented material, plus significant
additional insight from beyond the scope of the class. Synthesizes concepts and points of view from
multiple different sources and critically evaluates each. Raises interesting, well argued points that I
had not considered. The work is clearly articulated and well presented. Arguments are logical and
well developed. Shows excellent creativity throughout.
B: Shows a thorough grasp of all of the presented material with some additional insight brought from
beyond the scope of the class. Synthesizes concepts and points of view from different sources, but
the range of sources, number of sources or nature of the evaluation of the material is inadequate.
Raises points that I had not considered, although these are not thoroughly developed/inconsistent.
The work is clearly articulated and well presented. Arguments are logical and well developed.
Good creativity is common.
C: Shows a thorough grasp of all of the presented material, although additional insight is lacking.
Presents one argument strongly, but consideration of other points of view is minimal or absent. The
work is clearly articulated and well presented. Arguments are logical, but could be developed
further.
D: Grasp of the presented material is lacking. Arguments are poorly presented and flawed in part.
Work is poorly presented.
E: No grasp of the presented material. Arguments are seriously flawed. Major issues with presentation
and clarity.
I should note at this point that my previous teaching has been in the British system, where grading is
slightly different from the US system. I'll do my best to accommodate this difference up front, but be
prepared for some unintentional differences. I will ensure that your final submitted grades are directly
comparable with other courses at Dartmouth.
If you have any grading-related concerns, please come to discuss them with me at the earliest
opportunity.
Academic Honor
The academic honor principle is an important part of your Dartmouth education. Students are expected
to follow the academic honor principle in respect of all aspects of this course. If you have any concerns
that an action might breach the academic honor principle, please feel free to discuss it with me.
The academic honor principle can be found in Organizations, Regulations, Courses and online
(http://www.dartmouth.edu/~reg/regulations/undergrad/acad-honor.html). Specific guidance relating to
plagiarism and the citing of sources can be found online (http://www.dartmouth.edu/~writing/sources/).
Students are expected to collaborate as part of their class presentations (all collaborators should be
noted) but the remainder of the graded work (written and lab exercises, exams) should be entirely their
own unless I specifically state otherwise.
Student Needs
Students with disabilities enrolled in this course and who may need disability-related classroom
accommodations are encouraged to make an appointment to see me before the end of the second week
of the term. All discussions will remain confidential, although the Student Accessibility Services office
may be consulted to discuss appropriate implementation of any accommodation requested.
Some students may wish to take part in religious observances that occur during this academic
term. If you have a religious observance that conflicts with your participation in the course,
please meet with me before the end of the second week of the term to discuss appropriate
accommodations.
Course Schedule
This is the schedule for the 2012 course. Note that class presentation topics/dates may change slightly
depending on course enrollment. As with all courses, depending on the pace at which we cover material
and your interest in different topics, lecture timing is somewhat flexible.
Date
Class
th
26 March Lect
Topic
The origin of life!
th
27 March X-Hour A brief introduction to microorganisms
27th March Lab
What is a fossil?
28th March Lect
Evolution: Life will find a way
30th March Lect
On the origin of species: Are you the same species as your parents?
2nd April
Oxygene: Geobiological Interactions
Lect
rd
X-Hour Library Resources: Jane Quigley
rd
3 April
Lab
R: A Palaeontological Toolbox
4th April
Lect
Animals!: The evolution of the metazoa
6th April
Lect
Evo Devo and the Cambrian Explosion
9th April
Lect
Up, up and away!: The Great Ordovician Biodiversification Event (take 1)
10th April
X-Hour Class presentations 1 and 2 (Protists and basal metazoans)
3 April
th
10 April
Lab
Adventures in cladistics: Evolution of the Caminalcules
11th April
Lect
Up, up and away!: The Great Ordovician Biodiversification Event (take 2)
13th April
Lect
Reef Madness: On coral reefs and colonialism
16th April
Lect
Land Ho!: Making the transition to a terrestrial environment (take 1)
17th April
X-Hour Class presentations 3 and 4 (Lophophorates)
th
Lab
Tracks and Traces
th
18 April
Lect
Late to the party: Making the transition to a terrestrial environment (take 2)
20th April
Lect
An apple a day: The evolution of herbivory
23rd April
Lect
Taphonomy or: How I Learned to Stop Believing Palaeoecologists and Love
Quantitative Analyses (take 1)
24th April
X-Hour Class presentations 5 and 6 (Molluscs)
24th April
Lab
Bivalves: From seafood to living organisms!
25th April
Lect
Taphonomy or: How I Learned to Stop Believing Palaeoecologists and Love
17 April
Quantitative Analyses (take 2)
27th April
Lect
Lions and tigers and bears, oh my! The assembly of ancient communities
30th April
Lect
Mid-Term Exam (part 1)
st
X-Hour Mid-Term Exam (part 2)
st
1 May
Lab
What information can the loss of information provide us?
2nd May
Lect
A change can do you good (from a palaeocommunity perspective that is)
4th May
Lect
Dating isn't all it's cracked up to be: Telling the time in the fossil record
7th May
Lect
Everything's better in small packages: Microfossils
8th May
X-Hour NO CLASS
1 May
th
8 May
Lab
Life's a Beach: Palaeoenvironments from fossil assemblages
9th May
Lect
CLASS CANCELLED
11th May
Lect
Class presentations 7 and 8 (Arthropods and Echinoderms)
14th May
Lect
Viva la Revolución! (Mesozoic Marine and Cretaceous Terrestrial Revolutions)
15th May
X-Hour Class presentations 9 and 10 (Chordates)
th
Lab
Palaeobiodiversity and palaeocommunity analysis: The abundance of past life
th
16 May
Lect
Ain't no river wide enough: Dinosaur biogeography
18th May
Lect
Deep Impact: The end Cretaceous extinction
21st May
Lect
Mammalian response to climate change – To be or not to be?
22nd May
X-Hour Class presentations 11 and 12 (Plants)
22nd May
15 May
Lab
Extinction rates: When is it normal to go extinct?
rd
Lect
Ecce Homo: The birth of a phenomenon
th
25 May
Lect
The most dangerous animal that ever existed: The sixth extinction
28th May
Lect
MEMORIAL DAY HOLIDAY – NO CLASS
29th May
X-Hour NO CLASS
29th May
Lab
The diversity of life in 110 minutes
30th May
Lect
No specific topic: Catching up, review or class discussion
23 May