Course title: BIO 373 -­‐ Laboratory on the Evolution of Animal Behavior Description: This course explores the costs, benefits and constraints that drive the evolution of animal behavior. It is divided into four modules: a brief overview of basic statistics, a lab on agonistic behavior, a lab on animal communication, and a lab on sexual selection by female choice. Laboratory modules are hands-­‐on and student driven. They begin with an overview of relevant literature and a discussion of key questions that have been addressed experimentally in that field. Students are then encouraged to apply these concepts into the design, execution, and analysis of a research project aimed at answering a question of their own choosing through the use of house crickets as a study system. A majority of class time is devoted to active learning through the collection and analysis of data (each lab module lasts 4 weeks). In addition, the course includes weekly presentations by the instructor and class discussions on topics that help place the students' work into the broader context of evolutionary theory. Readings: Textbook: Martin, P. and Bateson, P. (2007) Measuring Behaviour, 3rd edition Primary literature and free online resources: Botero et al. (2010) The evolution of individual variation in communication strategies. Evolution 64: 3123-­‐3133 Bradbury & Vehrencamp (2011) Web topics 10.1, 10.5 and 11.1 from Principles in Animal Communication, 2nd Edition. URL: http://sites.sinauer.com/animalcommunication2e Gray, R.D., J. Drummond, and S. J. Greenhill (2009) Language phylogenies reveal expansion pulses and pauses in Pacific settlement. Science 323: 479-­‐483 Halfwerk et al. (2014) Risky Ripples Allow Bats and Frogs to Eavesdrop on a Multisensory Sexual Display. Science 343: 413-­‐416 McGregor et al. (1992) Design of playback experiments: the Thornbridge Hall NATO ARW consensus. In: Playback and Studies of Animal Communication. pp. 1–9. Tischler, M. Scientific Writing Booklet. Department of Biochemistry & Molecular Biophysics. University of Arizona. URL: http://cbc.arizona.edu/sites/default/files/marc/Sci-­‐Writing.pdf Vehrencamp, S. L. (2000). Handicap, index, and conventional signal elements of bird song. In Animal Signals: Signalling and Signal Design in Animal Communication (ed. Y. Espmark, T. Amundsen and G. Rosenqvist), pp. 277300. Trondheim: Tapir Academic Press. Topics to be covered: Observing and quantifying behavior (Sampling and recording rules; Reliability, replication, and healthy data practices; Formulating and testing Hypothesis; Experimental design; Pseudoreplication) Basic statistics (Sampling and probability distributions; How and when to apply contingency tables, goodness of fit tests, correlation, regression and General Linear Models) Scientific writing (Standard manuscript format; Basic elements of scientific writing style; active voice; avoiding unnecessary redundancy and digression) Evolution of animal conflicts (Resource holding potential, motivation, and access to information as drivers of agonistic behavior; The evolution of ritualization; Social hierarchies) Evolution of animal communication (What is communication? The evolution of honesty; Costs and constraints on signal evolution; Co-­‐evolution of senders and receivers; Emergent properties of individual variation within populations) Sexual selection and female choice (Anisogamy and the competition for mates; Measures of sexual selection; Costs and constraints on mating preferences) Theoretical tools to explore the causes and consequences of the evolution of behavior (Game theory; Phylogenetic comparative methods; Diversification analyses; Applications to the understanding of human behavior) Electronics policy: Electronics will be essential for the collection and analysis of data in the active learning portion of this course. During lecture times, the use of electronics will be strictly prohibited unless otherwise stated by the instructor. Schedule of major assignments and exams: The course is designed to meet in 2x 3hr blocks per week. It will be evaluated on the basis of participation in class and written reports (no exams). Reports should be uploaded to blackboard prior to or on the designated dates listed in the schedule below. Students that upload their assignments late will lose 5 points per day past the due date. No lab will be accepted later than 7 calendar days from the due date. Criteria for evaluating student work: Students can achieve a maximum of 500 points in this course: Basic statistics (100 points), Aggression Lab (100 points), Communication Lab (100 points), Mate Choice Lab (100 points), and class participation (100 points). The statistics module will be evaluated through a problem set, whereas the lab modules will be evaluated through written reports in the form of scientific manuscripts. Written reports will be evaluated based on the following criteria: (a) Content: Questions are clear and study is properly introduced in the context of relevant literature (10 points); Methods and Results are clearly described (10 points); Proper use of statistics (10 points); Figures are clear and informative (10 points); Results are properly interpreted and discussed in-­‐depth (25 points); (b) Effort: Sufficient replication in experiments (10 points); Timeliness, cleanliness, and proper animal husbandry (10 points); (c) Creativity in hypotheses and/or experimental design (15 points) Class participation will be evaluated on the following criteria: Student involvement in each of six discussion sessions will be rewarded with up to 30 points, broken down into: familiarity with assigned reading material (15 points) and ability to discuss links with other relevant primary literature (15 points). Participation points will max out at 100 points for the semester. The instructor will moderate discussions to insure that all students have equal opportunity to participate in all sessions. Students should expect to be actively encouraged to participate on these dialogues and to contribute ideas. Prerequisites: Bio 2970 and Psych 100B or permission of instructor. Schedule: The class will meet on Tuesdays and Thursdays from 9 AM to noon except on holidays recognized by Washington University. Please contact the instructors ahead of time (at least two weeks prior) for religious accommodations. Week Date Topics covered Reading DIY Projects assignments 1 08/25/15 • Introduction to the course Chapters 3, 5, Statistics 08/27/15 2 09/01/15 09/03/15 3 09/08/15 09/10/15 4 09/15/15 09/17/15 5 6 7 • Measuring animal behavior • Sampling and recording rules • Reliability, replication, and healthy data practices • Introduction to R • Sampling and probability distributions • Formulating and testing Hypothesis • Experimental design • Statistical options for common questions in behavioral research WORKSHOP ON: • Contingency tables and goodness of fit • Correlation • Regression WORKSHOP ON: • General Linear Models • Natural history and basic husbandry of the house cricket • Intro to Aggression Lab • Resource holding potential, motivation, and information in the evolution of animal conflict resolution strategies • Class discussion on the theory of games in animal conflict • Discuss project proposals 09/22/15 • Workshop on scientific writing • Data collection and analysis 09/24/15 09/29/15 10/01/15 10/06/15 10/08/15 • Data collection and analysis • Data collection and analysis • Data collection and analysis • Data collection and analysis • Write-­‐up lab report and 7 in Martin problem set & Bateson (due: 09/15) Chapters 8 & 9 in Martin & Bateson Handout #1: Basic statistics Bradbury & Vehrencamp (2011) Web topics 10.5 and 11.1. Tischler, M. Scientific writing booklet. Aggression Lab (due: 10/13) 8 10/13/15 • Intro to Communication Lab • Animal 'signals' and the evolution of honesty • Exploratory literature search 10/15/15 • Workshop on sound and video analysis • Pseudoreplication in experimental design • Discuss project proposals 9 10/20/15 10 10/22/15 10/27/15 11 12 10/29/15 11/03/15 11/05/15 11/10/15 11/12/15 13 14 11/17/15 11/19/15 11/24/15 Communication Lab (due: 11/10) McGregor et al. (1992) In: Playback and Studies of Animal Comm. pp. 1–9 • Class discussion on costs and Vehrencamp (2000) constraints on signal Handicap, evolution • Data collection and analysis Index & Conv. Signal Elem. of Bird Song • Data collection and analysis Botero et al. • Class discussion on (2010) coevolution (case study: individual variation in comm. Evolution 64: 3123-­‐3133 strategies) • Data collection and analysis • Data collection and analysis • Data collection and analysis • Write-­‐up lab report Mate Choice • Intro to Mate Choice lab Lab • Sexual selection and female (due: 12/03) choice • Measures of sexual selection • Exploratory literature search • Class discussion on costs and Halfwerk et al. (2014) Science constraints on sexual 343: 413-­‐416 selection • Data collection and analysis • Discuss project proposals • Data collection and analysis Bradbury & • Class discussion on Tree Vehrencamp thinking: uncovering broad patterns in the evolution of (2011) Web topic 10.1. behavior using molecular phylogenies. • Data collection and analysis 15 11/26/15 Data collection and analysis 12/01/15 • Class discussion on Tree thinking II (evolution of human culture) • Data collection and analysis 12/03/15 • Write-­‐up lab report Gray, et al. (2009) Science 323: 479-­‐483