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Herpetology |
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Careers in
Herpetology | Center for North American Herpetology
Prospective Students | Why you don't want to
get bitten
Collection List | Collection Points | Grades
Updated 13 April 2008
Biol. 416 - Herpetology (4 hrs)
The morphology, systematics, ecology,
behavior, distribution, and conservation of amphibians and reptiles (What are these?).
Texts
- Halliday,
T.R. and K. Adler. 2002. Firefly Encyclopedia of Reptiles and Amphibians.
Firefly Books, Ltd.
- Conant,
R. and J.T. Collins. 1998. A Field Guide to Reptiles and Amphibians of
Eastern and Central North America. Houghton-Mifflin Co.
- Trauth,
S.E., H.W. Robinson, and M.V. Plummer. 2004. The Amphibians and Reptiles
of Arkansas. University of Arkansas Press. (provided)
Class and Lab
There will be little conventional lecturing;
most of class time will be spent discussing Halliday and Adler (HA) but we will
also view short videos and discuss handouts and primary literature papers. There is a LOT of memory work in
this class. Guidelines for
taxonomic memory work include: (1) Arkansas - to the species level; (2) U.S. -
to the genus level; (3) worldwide - to the family level. About 50% of lab
time (most of the first half of the semester) will be spent in the laboratory
learning the amphibians and reptiles of Arkansas. The remaining 50% will
be spent in the field applying knowledge learned in lab, specifically, learning
how to find, observe, collect, and identify herps in their natural environment.
Evaluation
|
Amphibian
Exam 1 |
10% |
Mills |
HA
pp. 8-63; hdouts, videos |
1 Feb |
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Amphibian Lab Practical |
10% |
Mills |
Arkansas amphibians, frog calls |
5 Feb |
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Amphibian Exam 2 |
10% |
Mills |
HA
pp. 8-37, 64-97; hdouts, videos |
29 Feb |
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Class
participation - amp |
10% |
Mills |
||
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Reptile
Lab Practical |
10% |
Plummer |
Arkansas
reptiles |
4 Mar |
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Reptile
Exam 1 |
10% |
Plummer |
HA
pp. 98-177; hdouts, videos |
2 Apr |
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Reptile Exam 2 |
10% |
Plummer |
HA
pp. 98-117; 178-225; hdouts, videos |
2 May |
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Class
participation - rep |
10% |
Plummer |
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Living
collection |
20% |
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5
May |
Recent Literature
This is a discussion of some of the latest
developments in herpetology. The discussion leader will choose a recent
paper and submit a PDF by noon Tuesday of the discussion week. Do not
choose taxonomic papers or papers that focus on a general
biological problem rather than on the animals themselves. Each student should read the papers and
be prepared to contribute to the discussion. Links to papers are posted
below.
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Name |
Schedule |
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Amp |
Rep |
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25 Jan |
21 Mar |
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1 Feb |
28 Mar |
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8 Feb |
4 Apr |
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15 Feb |
18 Apr |
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22 Feb |
25 Apr |
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29 Feb |
2 May |
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