Syllabus

Lecture: 1:00-4:20pm, Room 116, T. H. Morgan Building, 3 days per week, see calendar below

Recitation: 1:00-4:20pm, Room 109, T. H. Morgan Building, 2 days per week, see calendar below

Instructor: Craig Sargent, Office: 115-116, MDR#3, Office Hours: By appointment

Telephone: 257-8742, E-mail: csargent@uky.edu, Web: http://darwin.uky.edu/~sargent/

Teaching Assistants: Nathan Klar and Mary Elizabeth McKnight

Readings: Selected readings will be posted weekly. These will be available online, in the lab, or in the library.

Course Description: Introductory ecology (BIO 325) investigates the interactions between organisms and their environment. We will study these interactions from an evolutionary perspective at the level of organism, population, and community. Understanding ecology requires one to understand underlying processes rather than simply learning facts. Thus this course emphasizes critical thinking and the scientific process. Students will be encouraged to read outside material, to think carefully, logically and critically about ideas and to ask questions and defend their views. Clear writing is very important, and students are encouraged to seek help from the UK Writing Center or me if necessary. Also, students are encouraged to speak up in class and express their questions, opinions, and concerns.

Instructor Grading Policy: Grades will be based on an absolute scale, with 90% an A, 80% a B, 70% a C, 60% a D, and less than 60% an E; however, I reserve the right to make these cutoffs more lenient. There will be two examinations, one midterms and one final, each worth 37.5% of your final grade. The final exam will cover the last half of the course, and will not be comprehensive. Each exam will consist of thought-provoking short-essay questions (50%) and short answer questions (50% - e.g. T/F, fill in the blank, multiple choice). These questions will be based primarily on material covered in lecture. The remaining 25% of your grade will be based on recitation (the recitation syllabus will be handed out next week). If a student misses an exam and has an excused absence, she/he is entitled to a make up exam. If she/he informs me before a missed exam, very often she/he will be given the same exam as the rest of the class. If she/he informs me after a missed exam, she/he will be given a different exam from the rest of the class. Students who miss exams with un-excused absences will incur a 10% penalty for missing the original exam. All missed exams must be made up within one week of the originally scheduled exam date, unless extreme circumstances (e.g. medical or family emergencies) prevent this. Disputes on graded assignments need to be addressed within one week from when the assignment was returned. 

Recitation: Recitation is worth 25% of your total grade; attendance and participation are required. A separate syllabus for recitation will be posted shortly.

Recitation Topics For Oral Presentation:

• Antibiotic Resistance

  Levy, SB. 1998. The Challenge of Antibiotic Resistance. Scientific American, 

  Maisnier-Patin S, Andersson DI. Adaptation to the deleterious effects of antimicrobial drug resistance mutations by compensatory evolution. Res Microbiol. 2004 Jun;155(5):360-9. Review. (link, to access this article, either you'll need to be on campus, or you'll need to access it through the UK Library website using EZProxy).

• Anthropogenic Stress Combined with Ecological (Natural) Stress

  Rick A. Relyea and Nathan Mills. 2001. Predator-induced stress makes the pesticide carbaryl more deadly to gray treefrog tadpoles (Hyla versicolor). PNAS | February 27, 2001 | vol. 98 | no. 5 | 2491-2496 (link)

  Joseph M. Kiesecker 2002. Synergism between trematode infection and pesticide exposure: A link to amphibian limb deformities in nature? PNAS | July 23, 2002 | vol. 99 | no. 15 | 9900-9904 (link)

Guidelines for Recitation Talks, and Evaluating Talks

World Wide Web: Check the course website for various course postings, which will include this syllabus, some of the assigned readings, answer keys for exams, thought problems/answers for the week, and selected lecture notes.

Cheating and Plagiarism: Cheating and plagiarism are serious academic offenses, and are taken seriously in this class. Please consult your student handbook for definitions of cheating and plagiarism, and for the penalties they incur.