BIO 593/NRS 563 Seminar in Functional Biology and Ecology of Fishes, 2 credits

Tuesday 11-11:50 Woodward Hall 312

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

Dr. Cheryl Wilga CBLS 183, x9020, cwilga@uri.edu

Class goals

We will discuss papers on 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 human activities and natural events (conservation and evolution).  This seminar takes advantage of the different expertise of the two instructors, whose core expertise lies in the functional biology (Wilga) and ecology (Forrester) of fishes. 

Format

Each meeting will take the form of a group discussion focused on one or two articles from the recent primary literature.  We encourage you to be critical but creative in discussing the papers, to bring up new ideas and alternative tests. We have not pre-selected papers in order to keep the discussion of papers flexible to participant’s interests.

Sakai

The papers for each class meeting, and sometimes background materials, will be posted on Sakai as PDFS.

Grading

Before each meeting everyone is responsible for:

(1)   Carefully reading the paper ahead of time.

(2)   Writing a 1-2 page critique of the paper(s) that identifies the most significant findings of the paper(s) and 2 or more “discussion points”.  Discussion points can be questions you would like to discuss, constructive criticisms of the paper, or ideas for further work.  This may require you to read additional papers on the topic. 

(3)   Contributing to the group discussion.  As scientists we routinely learn by reading scholarly articles and books.  The value of group discussion with peers, rather than reading alone, is that we can learn more by sharing ideas and bringing our different viewpoints and perspectives to the table. 

Your grade will be based on your written critiques (50%) and your contribution to the discussion (50%).