Principles of Paleobiology ZOO 4114

Paleobiology GLY 4650/ Advanced Paleontology GLY 5608

Fall 2008, Tues./Thur. 9:30-10:45 a.m., PCA 165

Dr. Laurel Collins, Dept. Earth Sciences and Dept. Biological Sciences

(Syllabus with latest updates at http://www.fiu.edu/~collinsl/Paleobiologysyllabus.htm) 

Description and Objectives:  Introduction to the main conceptual issues in paleobiology.  Students will understand how paleobiology is studied in the field and laboratory using hypothesis testing and quantitative methods. Topics include the nature of fossils, adaptation, systematics, evolutionary trends through time, global origination and extinction, paleoecology and paleobiogeography. 

COURSE OUTLINE

Pop Quiz Questions for Review

Instructor:  Dr. Laurel Collins, Department of Earth Sciences and Department of Biological Sciences. Contact information:

If you need to see me outside regular office hours, please email or call to make an appointment.

Textbook:  Principles of Paleontology, 2007, Michael Foote and Arnold Miller, 3rd ed., W.H. Freeman and Co., 354pp. In the FIU Bookstore it's about $110 new and $82 used. Online booksellers have it for about $85 new and $60 used, but BEWARE of older editions - they are too old to be useful in this class.

Course Policies:  You are expected to maintain high standards of academic honesty. Any student found in violation of these standards will earn an automatic F and be reported to the Deans Office, no exceptions made. In accordance with FIU's policy on academic honesty, as set forth in Section 2.44 of the Academic Affairs Policies and Procedures Manual (http://academic.fiu.edu/polman/sec2web.htm#two-forty-four), it is expected that students in this class will neither submit the academic work of another as their own, nor provide work they have done for another student to be submitted as that other student's work.

Exams and Grading:  Grades for undergraduate students are based on a total of 400 possible points. Exams 1 and 2 are for 100 points each, the noncumulative final exam is for 100 points, and there are frequent pop quizzes in class that total 100 points over the semester.  The grades are posted in the online syllabus and listed by the last 4 digits of the panther ID#. Makeup exams or quizzes will be given only in extreme circumstances and if you have valid, documentable proof justifying your absence, such as a doctor’s note explaining a bad illness or a  police report for a car accident. The format of all makeup exams is short essay. The final grade is based on the following grade scale:  A = ,368-400 A- = 360-367, B+ = 348-359, B = 328-347, B- = 320-327, C+ = 308-319, C = 288-307, C- = 280-287, D+ = 272-279, D = 248-271, D- = 240-247, F = 0-239.  Grades for graduate students are based on a total of 500 possible points: the 400 points described above plus an additional 50 points for a paper (approx. 15 double-spaced pages including figures, tables and references) and 50 points for a 12- to 15-minute presentation of the paper in class.