BIO/NRS 563 Functional Biology and Ecology of Fishes (formerly Ichthyology) 3 cr.

Tentative Fall 2008 Schedule

Class Meetings: Tuesday 11-12:40 Woodward Hall 312, 1-4:15 BISC B111.

Professors: Dr. Cheryl Wilga BISC 115, x9020, cwilga@uri.edu

             and Dr. Graham Forrester, CIK 114, x7054, gforrester@uri.edu

Teaching Assistant: Jason Ramsay, BISC B113, x7442, jasonramsay@mail.uri.edu

Required Books:

1) Bond, C.E. 2006. Biology of Fishes. Third Edition. Saunders College Publishing: New York. ISBN 0120798751.

2) Ray, C. and C.R. Robins. 1999. A Field Guide to Atlantic Coast Fishes: North America (Peterson Field Guides). Houghton Mifflin Co. ISBN-10: 0395975158. 

3) Burr, B.M., L.M. Page, J.P. Sherrod, and E. Beckham. 1991. A Field Guide to Freshwater Fishes: North America North of Mexico (Peterson Field Guides). Houghton Mifflin Co., Boston. ISBN 0395910919.

Course goals:   We will learn how fish are put together (anatomy) and how the pieces work to perform specific tasks (function).  We will then ask how performance influences the ability of the fish to make a living in the world (behavior and ecology) and respond to threats from our activities (conservation).  The class will take advantage of the different expertise of the two instructors, whose core expertise lies in the functional biology (Wilga) and ecology (Forrester) of fishes.  We will learn through lecture and group discussion.  We will also do several group projects in the field and lab, and you will have the chance to develop a proposal for your own project.

Grant Proposal:  This paper is designed to provide you with experience writing a research grant proposal. All topics must be approved by Forrester or Wilga and we will gladly meet with you to help along the way. The proposal format must follow that for the National Science Foundation (see NSF webpage). On October 21^st, we will meet with each of you individually to discuss the progress of your proposal. At this time you must have an outline draft of your proposal. At the end of the semester, you will present your grant proposal to the class in a lab symposium and turn in your grant proposal to the professors. Your oral presentations should be power point. Your presentation will be graded by your classmates, the TA and the professors according to the standards for NSF grant proposals. We will collect the class reviews and will give you a summary sheet of the scores so that reviewers remain anonymous.

Laboratory: The lab course is designed to supplement the lecture course with hands-on experience on the structure, function, biology and ecology of fishes through identification, mini-experiments and field sampling. Identification of common marine and freshwater fishes of New England will be stressed. There are several field trips in the lab providing field experience in collection techniques and identification of fishes.

Lab Exercises: Short papers on the lab exercises will serve to creatively reinforce the laboratory experience. All papers are to be double spaced in 12-point font and in proper scientific format with all references from peer-reviewed journals.

Make-up Exams: You must have an approved university excuse for missing an exam. Make‑up lecture exams are all essay and makeup lab exercises are oral.

Grades: Final grades assigned according to the standard scale, unless we see fit to scale. No extra credit material will be given. A total of 350 points are possible:

            2 Lecture Exams @ 50 pts each                                                                  100 pts

1 Grant Proposal (50 pts) and presentation (50 pts)                                100 pts

10 Lab/Analysis of Discussion Papers                                                        100 pts

Participation and Discussion                                                                        50 pts