GEO 1007 -- Changes

Mon Dec 7 14:37:20 2009

Effective Term:	New: 1109 - Fall 2010 Old: 1089 - Fall 2008
Proposal Changes:	New: CLE proposal for Biological Science w/lab Old: <no text provided>
Faculty Sponsor E-mail Address:	New: dlfox@umn.edu Old:
Student Learning Outcomes:	* Student in the course: - Can identify, define, and solve problems New: Please explain briefly how this outcome will be addressed in the course. Give brief examples of class work related to the outcome. Identifying, defining and solving problems is the heart of scientific inquiry and GEO 1007 is ideally suited to this learning outcome, especially as we have to base so much of our interpretation of past life on incomplete records. This incompleteness allows students to more fully explore the process of problem solving itself. As everything in past and present ecosystems interconnects, the course will engage students in the exploration of complex systems with interwoven feedback systems. Coupled with the incompleteness of the available data and records, this complexity mimics the type of open-ended, complex problem solving that students will face well beyond the courseżs term as citizens of a global society that must deal with serious environmental issues. Designed as open-ended experimentation, many of the laboratory modules will revolve about the analysis of data collected by students. As individual lab groups and as a joined class, students will work together to define problems, construct hypotheses and design ways to test competing hypotheses. In addition, lectures will not only cover żwhatż we know about Earthżs past life, but żhowż we know it, highlighting examples such as the origin of life, possible causes of mass extinction and the reasons for one groups successful radiation at the expense of competing forms. How will you assess the students' learning related to this outcome? Give brief examples of how class work related to the outcome will be evaluated. Problem solving is the basis of the laboratory modules and their completion will engage students as much in the process of identifying and defining problems as their solution. In addition, on-line quizzes, homework and exams will include questions focused on the evidence and reasoning behind interpretations rather than the interpretations themselves. Hence, successful problem solving will constitute a significant part of the course grade. As an example, rather than ask when dinosaurs began to dominate the landżs living community, quiz and exam questions will focus on the possible reasons why dinosaurs could achieve dominance, what advantages they had over contemporary competitors and why those advantages were important. How did their rise reflect the contemporary ecosystem and subsequently affect the direction of that ecosystemżs evolution? Old: unselected - Have mastered a body of knowledge and a mode of inquiry New: Please explain briefly how this outcome will be addressed in the course. Give brief examples of class work related to the outcome. Geo 1007 is ideally suited to helping students master a body of knowledge and a mode of inquiry, specifically the knowledge, ways of knowing, and methods of inquiry common to biological sciences. A multidisciplinary approach to the evolution of life on Earth, this course will help students explore the ways in which scientists seek to understand the many interactions between life and earth processes and how they identify, define and solve problems within the field of biological inquiry. Skills gained by this exploration, and the understanding of how intimately life and earth processes are linked, are essential for becoming better-informed citizens of an increasingly global community. Designed as a systems-based and process-oriented exploration of earthżs present and past ecosystems, GEO 1007 places more emphasis on żhowż and żwhyż developments occurred than on żwhatż happened; more emphasis on the implications of developments, rather than the developments themselves. This approach highlights the many interactions between life and earth systems and emphasizes the realization that earthżs life and ecosystems continue to evolve and change; changes greatly accelerated by rise of agricultural and industrial societies. Lectures will stress the acquisition of evidence as well as its interpretation, the formulation and evaluation of hypotheses, and the predictive value of scientific modes of inquiry. Examples such as the origin and subsequent impact of the origin of life, the late Proterozoic Ice Ball Earth, and interrelationships between the development of land plants and the terminal Devonian marine extinction will illustrate this process. How will you assess the students' learning related to this outcome? Give brief examples of how class work related to the outcome will be evaluated. Laboratory exercises will consist of open-ended, inquiry-based explorations whose successful completion depends upon studentsż ability to master modes of scientific inquiry. Quizzes, homework and exams will emphasize the understanding of material, rather than its memorization, focusing on the connection between concepts and events, the subsequent impact of developments, and feedbacks within life, earth and climate systems. Many questions will explicitly target the reasoning and evidence behind interpretations rather than the interpretations themselves. Between lab, quizzes, homework and exams, a significant portion of the course assessment targets this learning outcome. Old: unselected - Have acquired skills for effective citizenship and life-long learning New: Please explain briefly how this outcome will be addressed in the course. Give brief examples of class work related to the outcome. One of GEO 1007żs primary goals is that student acquire the skills and perspectives of scientific ways of knowing, which are immeasurably valuable in life-long learning, regardless of which path students follow. The ability to analyze a situation, evaluate evidence, formulate and test competing ideas is crucial to effective citizenship, especially in an increasingly global, interconnected society that faces some very serious environmental concerns. GEO 1007 is particularly well suited to this objective, as we have to base much of our understanding of life's evolution on incomplete records. The ability to make informed decisions about complex systems, in the absence of overwhelming data, is invaluable for citizens as many of the most pressing environmental issues our society faces will have to be addressed based on incomplete information and some degree of uncertainty. Consequently, the goal of GEO 1007 is to not only provide students with a strong understanding of lifeżs origin and evolution, but to also give them the skills, perspective, and intellectual abilities necessary to help guide this ongoing evolution in a world where humans have become one of the Earthżs most potent evolutionary forces. How will you assess the students' learning related to this outcome? Give brief examples of how class work related to the outcome will be evaluated. This is one of the major goals of the course so all aspects of the class design will contribute to its assessment. Laboratory modules will provide students with opportunities to learn and practice these skills in open-ended, inquiry-based exploration of very large, very incomplete data sets. Quizzes, homework assignments and exams focus on this learning objective, with questions geared towards assessing the studentsż mastery of different scientific ways of knowing, as well as their understanding of the linkages and interrelationships present within Earthżs living systems. Students will be expected to not only explain when angiosperms arose and why they came to dominate terrestrial flora, but will also be expected to explain how the rise of angiosperms reflected changes in the evolution of the Earthżs ecosystem prior to their rise and how their rise subsequently affected the evolution of terrestrial ecosystems, insect and animal lines. Students should then be able to compare these developments with the later rise, and subsequent effects, of agriculture and domestication of angiosperms, setting the stage for understanding the potency of future interactions between human society and angiosperm evolution. Old: unselected
Requirement this course fulfills:	New: BIOL - BIOL Biological Sciences Old:
Criteria for Core Courses:	Describe how the course meets the specific bullet points for the proposed core requirement. Give concrete and detailed examples for the course syllabus, detailed outline, laboratory material, student projects, or other instructional materials or method. Core courses must meet the following requirements: They explicitly help students understand what liberal education is, how the content and the substance of this course enhance a liberal education, and what this means for them as students and as citizens They employ teaching and learning strategies that engage students with doing the work of the field, not just reading about it. They include small group experiences (such as discussion sections or labs) and use writing as appropriate to the discipline to help students learn and reflect on their learning. They do not (except in rare and clearly justified cases) have prerequisites beyond the Universityďż˝s entrance requirements. They are offered on a regular schedule. They are taught by regular faculty or under exceptional circumstances by instructors on continuing appointments. Departments proposing instructors other than regular faculty must provide documentation of how such instructors will be trained and supervised to ensure consistency and continuity in courses. New: General Criteria: This course will examine the scientific evidence from biology, paleontology, and geology for the origin and subsequent evolution of life over the 4.5 billion year history of our Earth. To do this effectively, the course begins by introducing the fundamental concepts and terminology of these disciplines so that the students can understand and evaluate the evidence itself during the remainder of the course. The teaching of evolutionary theory, although not the theory itself, has continued to be controversial in the United States in no small part through misunderstandings and intentional miscommunications about the nature of science and scientific knowledge, the content and meaning of evolutionary theory itself, and the actual empirical observations from biology, paleontology, and geology that support evolutionary theory. Thus, from the outset students will have to examine what science is and how science is a way of knowing. This interdisciplinary approach is ideal for a liberal education curriculum. It introduces students to scientific ways of knowing and engages them in practicing modes of scientific inquiry in areas that fall at the intersection of life and earth processes. These are precisely the perspectives and types of inquiry necessary to navigate the many complex environmental issues that confront our society, so the course is ideally suited to preparing students to become informed and responsible citizens. The courseżs overarching biological concepts constitute modern evolutionary theory. Thus, students will have to learn the ways in which biologists and paleontologists study and understand the evolution and diversification of life on Earth. These concepts will include the scientific meaning of organic evolution; natural selection, adaptation, and the origin and extinction of species; phylogeny reconstruction and the tree of life; the biochemical basis of life; the nature of DNA, genes, and genomes and their roles in replication and biological variability; and the diversity of metabolic pathways used by organisms to convert matter into useable forms of energy. To understand how geography, climate, and environments have changed through time, students will also have to understand the basic concepts of the two most fundamental ways in which geologists understand the Earth: its long history as expressed by the geological time scale and its dynamic nature as encapsulated in the theory of plate tectonics. After developing a suitable conceptual framework, the remainder of the course will survey the biological, paleontological, biochemical, geochemical, and geological records of how life has evolved on Earth. Throughout, the emphasis will be on explaining observations in terms of our current understanding of evolutionary theory, the physical evolution of the planet, and the feedbacks between biotic and abiotic systems. Specific topics will include the theories for the origin of life from abiotic materials, the role of microbial organisms in shaping the chemistry of the atmosphere, the origin of multicellular organisms, the Cambrian explosion and the origin of the major lineages of modern animals, the origin of vertebrates, the evolution of terrestrial ecosystems, the Permo-Triassic mass extinction that almost erased all life from Earth, and the evolution of dinosaurs, whales, and humans. Throughout the course, the historical and contingent nature of scientific knowledge will be emphasized with examples drawn from the historical development of biology and geology as disciplines. Comprehending how the Earth and its life have evolved to their present state reinforces the recognition that biological processes, especially human activities, continue to affect the Earth to a remarkable degree and that the Earth and its life are still evolving. These are crucial perspectives for an informed society. Understanding the history of life on Earth is necessarily an interdisciplinary endeavor, and students will learn how theories and information from diverse fields have shaped our understanding of Earth and our own place in it. Through this understanding, students will gain both the knowledge and the ways of thinking about life on Earth that will help them understand and confront the climatic, environmental, and biotic changes that face the society they will inherit from us. Writing will constitute a substantial component of graded assignments. The labs will require short essay answers to both pre- and post-lab questions and the lab exercises themselves will include some short essay questions to synthesize material examined in each lab. Additionally, the group lab exercises will require lab groups to write formal lab reports that discuss the project and hypotheses tested, present the data generated over the course of the lab sessions, and summarize and synthesize data and results in terms of the initial hypotheses. Specific criteria for biological sciences: Given the controversy and misunderstanding that continues to surround teaching evolutionary theory in the United States, this course will consistently focus on the relationship between theoretical concepts and the empirical evidence that supports them. Additionally, the Earth will be presented as a complex system with processes that dynamically link the evolution of life to the evolution of the Earthżs surface, the atmosphere, and the oceans. The course will emphasize observational data from modern and paleontological studies of biodiversity, ecology, biogeochemistry, biochemistry, morphology, and phylogenetic analysis. Students will also explore some of the larger unanswered questions in biology, such as how, when, and where did life begin on Earth; how did complex single-celled organisms with internal membranes (eukaryotes) evolve from organisms that lacked internal membranes; how, when, and where did multicellular organisms evolve; what causes major evolutionary radiations such as the Cambrian explosion and the diversification of mammals; what causes major mass extinctions; and how does life respond to climatic and environmental changes on various time scales? Thirteen two-hour labs over the course of the semester will engage students in biological and paleontological research through hands-on experience and testing scientific hypotheses through data collection and analysis. Data sets and specimens used in the labs will be directly connected to relevant content in the lectures to tie the lectures and labs together. Examples of lab topics include: a two week exploration of phylogenetic analysis, in which students will use two of the most commonly used computer programs for phylogenetic analysis (PAUP and MacClade) to generate and interpret phylogenetic analyses for case studies of all animal phyla, Primates and hominoids, and ungulate mammals; plate tectonics and biogeography, in which students will use past plate configurations to infer processes responsible for current biogeographic patterns, as well as using current biogeographic patterns to infer past geographic configurations; biogeochemical modeling, in which students will use a common box modeling computer program (Stella) to explore the relationships between photosynthesis, atmospheric composition, and the greenhouse effect as well as the impacts of anthropogenic changes in atmospheric composition; and macroevolutionary processes, in which students will use counts of benthic marine species with different shell morphologies from several Paleozoic and Mesozoic periods to examine long-term changes in predator-prey relationships in the fossil record. Although statistical and quantitative analyses are featured parts of many labs, only one of the proposed labs is dominated by computer models. The rest are hands-on explorations of fossils, modern specimens, skull casts, research data sets and organic materials. Four of the labs over the course of the semester will be based on long-term group projects. The basic goal of the group labs is for the students to undertake an extended set of measurements, experimental replicates, or series of procedures so that they have a more extended, and more realistic, experience with scientific methodologies. The group projects will yield larger data sets or more experimental replicates than would be possible in a single two hour lab session, and these larger data sets will be amenable to a greater range of quantitative analyses and graphic representations. Over a period of two to four weeks groups will spend 10-20 minutes of their weekly lab time acquiring and exploring data for this longer term project. The first week, the project will be introduced and background information presented. For each of the subsequent weeks, groups will collect data and develop multiple hypotheses. At the culmination of the project, groups will merge their data, participate in a final round of data collection or a final replicate of the experiment, and focus on analysis of the data and testing the previously developed hypotheses. Topics for these longer term labs include sequencing part of a human gene and examining genetic variability and molecular evidence for human-chimp-gorilla relationships within primates using a phylogenetic analysis of the sequence data generated and published data available through GenBank; experimental natural selection by żpredationż within populations of colored strings żlivingż and żreproducingż on monochrome environments (1 m2 swatches of shag carpeting); using basic biostatistics (mean, standard deviation, histograms, t-tests) and phylogenetic hypotheses to quantify evolution and evolutionary rates in the fossil record using large samples of late Paleocene and early Eocene mammal fossil teeth (Ectocion and Hyracotherium) from the Bighorn Basin, WY and in placental mammals using sequence data; and biological evidence (fossil pollen in a late Pleistocene through Holocene lake core from the northern Midwest) to examine ecological and climatic changes since the last glacial maximum. Within these labs, students will also have the opportunity to confront mistakes, poor data, or unexpected results. As an example, the outcome of the physical experiment to explore natural selection using colored strings on colored patches of shag carpet is completely open and may not result in an expected or interpretable pattern. Another example is the lab on mammalian evolutionary rates in the fossil record. As part of this lab, student will explore random models of change based on coin tosses and be asked to pick among patterns that represent biased (i.e., directed) vs. random walks. By selecting the examples, students should be struck by the similarity between some process driven and random patterns. The goal of the lab will be to emphasize the need for careful hypothesis testing when deciding on process models to explain patterns. Old: <no text provided>
Provisional Syllabus:	Please provide a provisional syllabus for new courses and courses in which changes in content and/or description and/or credits are proposed that include the following information: course goals and description; format/structure of the course (proposed number of instructor contact hours per week, student workload effort per week, etc.); topics to be covered; scope and nature of assigned readings (texts, authors, frequency, amount per week); required course assignments; nature of any student projects; and how students will be evaluated. The University policy on credits is found under Section 4A of "Standards for Semester Conversion" at http://www.fpd.finop.umn.edu/groups/senate/documents/policy/semestercon.html . Provisional course syllabus information will be retained in this system until new syllabus information is entered with the next major course modification, This provisional course syllabus information may not correspond to the course as offered in a particular semester. New: GEO 1007 Geobiology: Origin and Evolution of Life on Earth Fall Semester - 2010, Time and Place TBA LECTURERS: David Fox, 207 Pillsbury Hall, 624-6361 (voice mail), e-mail: dlfox@umn.edu Jake Bailey, Office & Phone TBA e-mail: baileyj@umn.edu OFFICE HOURS: TBA Course Description GEO 1007 will explore the scientific evidence from biology, paleontology, and geology for the origin and subsequent evolution of life over the 4.5 billion year history of our Earth. Earth appears to be a unique planet in its presence of life and the origin of life on Earth was one of the most important events in our planetżs history. The ongoing evolution of life affects the chemical composition of our atmosphere and ocean, changes the nature and rate of geological processes such as weathering and sedimentation, and alters cycling of the major elements critical for living organisms. The course will begin by introducing fundamental concepts in modern biology and geology, such as the biochemical basis of life, natural selection and the origin of species, genetics, phylogeny reconstruction, plate tectonics, and the geological timescale. Throughout the semester, we will consider the many interactions between biological and geological processes, such as the cycling of elements critical to life on Earth, and how biological and geological processes and events have altered biogeochemical cycles. All of these fundamental concepts are basic tools for understanding the history of life, including the origin of life from non-biological materials, the origin of multicellular organisms, the Cambrian explosion and the origin of the major lineages of modern animals, the origin of vertebrates, the evolution of terrestrial ecosystems, the Permo-Triassic mass extinction that almost erased all life from Earth, and the evolution of dinosaurs, whales, and humans. Laboratory modules will help students explore basic concepts and methods in geobiology, including natural selection, gene sequences, phylogenetic analysis, the carbon cycle, biostratigraphy, and analysis of evolutionary rates in the fossil record. In doing so, the laboratory activities will engage students in the ways of knowing common to all sciences. Designed for undergraduate non-majors, this course satisfies CLE requirements as a biological science lab course (approval pending). Course Web Site http://webct.umn.edu/ (Log in to reach your class list.) Course Materials Lecture Text: Earth System History by Steven M. Stanley ż 3rd Edition Copies are available at the University Bookstore in Coffman Memorial Union, and at the Student Book Store on the corner of 15th & University. Lab Manual: Labs will be posted on the course web site. Download, print and read each weekżs lab before coming to class. Labs do NOT meet until Monday, Sept. 13! Course Grades Grades will be based on a combination of labs, biweekly on-line homework assignments that alternate with biweekly on-line quizzes, two midterm exams and a comprehensive final exam. Breakdown of course grade: Labs 20% First Midterm 16% Biweekly Homework 16% Second Midterm 16% Biweekly Quizzes 16% Final Exam 16% Date and Time of Final Exam - TBA Exams will be a combination of multiple choice and short answer questions. If you take the course on an S-N basis, University rules require a 'S' to be equivalent to a 'C-' or better. Scholastic Conduct & Integrity With the sole exception of the GEO 1007 in-class laboratory assignments, all assignments in GEO 1007 (homework, quizzes, midterms and final) are expected to be completed individually. Scholastic misconduct is broadly defined as "any act that violates the right of another student in academic work or that involves misrepresentation of your own work. Scholastic dishonesty includes, (but is not necessarily limited to): cheating on assignments or examinations; plagiarizing, which means misrepresenting as your own work any part of work done by another; submitting the same paper, or substantially similar papers, to meet the requirements of more than one course without the approval and consent of all instructors concerned; depriving another student of necessary course materials; or interfering with another student's work." If you are uncertain as to what the University considers inappropriate behavior, please refer to the Regentsż Policy on Student Conduct found at: http://www1.umn.edu/regents/policies/academic/StudentConduct.html Council on Liberal Education (CLE) Requirements: Geo 1007 is designed to satisfy the CLE requirements as a biological science with lab. Consequently, GEO 1007 will not only present our current understanding of the evolution of Earthżs life, but will explicitly explore how that understanding came to be. General Criteria: GEO 1007 will weave the scientific evidence from biology, paleontology, and geology together to explore the origin and subsequent evolution of life over the 4.5 billion year history of our Earth. From the outset, the course will also examine what science is and how science is a way of knowing. It will introduce students to scientific ways of knowing and engage them in practicing modes of scientific inquiry in areas that fall at the intersection of life and earth processes. The courseżs overarching biological concepts constitute modern evolutionary theory. Thus, we will examine the ways in which biologists and paleontologists study and understand the evolution and diversification of life on Earth. These concepts include: the scientific meaning of organic evolution; natural selection, adaptation, and the origin and extinction of species; phylogeny reconstruction and the tree of life; the biochemical basis of life; the nature of DNA, genes, and genomes and their roles in replication and biological variability; and the diversity of metabolic pathways used by organisms to convert matter into useable forms of energy. To understand how geography, climate, and environments have changed through time, we will also explore two of the most fundamental ways in which geologists understand the Earth: its long history as expressed by the geological time scale and its dynamic nature as encapsulated in the theory of plate tectonics. After developing a strong conceptual framework, the remainder of the course will survey the biological, paleontological, biochemical, geochemical, and geological records of how life has evolved on Earth. Throughout, the emphasis will be on explaining observations in terms of our current understanding of evolutionary theory, the physical evolution of the planet, and the feedbacks between biotic and abiotic systems. Specific topics will include: the theories for the origin of life from abiotic materials, the role of microbial organisms in shaping the chemistry of the atmosphere, the origin of multicellular organisms, the Cambrian explosion and the origin of the major lineages of modern animals, the origin of vertebrates, the evolution of terrestrial ecosystems, the Permo-Triassic mass extinction that almost erased all life from Earth, and the evolution of dinosaurs, whales, and humans. Throughout the course, the historical and contingent nature of scientific knowledge will be illustrated with examples drawn from the historical development of biology and geology as disciplines. Comprehending how the Earth and its life have evolved to their present state reinforces the recognition that biological processes, especially human activities, continue to affect the Earth to a remarkable degree and that the Earth and its life are still evolving. These are crucial perspectives for an informed society. Understanding the history of life on Earth is an interdisciplinary endeavor, and students will learn how theories and information from diverse fields have shaped our understanding of Earth and our own place in it. Through this understanding, we can gain both the knowledge and the ways of thinking about life on Earth that will help us understand and confront the climatic, environmental, and biotic changes that face the society our children will inherit. Lab Sections Refer to the course web site for details on lab assignments. You must download and print copies of the weekly lab before coming to class. Labs start on Monday, September 13! Course Policies/Etiquette ż Any reasonable accommodation will be provided for students with physical, sensory, learning and psychiatric disabilities. Please contact me for assistance as early as possible. ż If English is not your primary language and you would like to have additional time in which to take the quizzes, let me know. Anyone who needs additional time for the quizzes will be extended the same courtesy. University policy prohibits sexual harassment as defined in the December 1998 policy statement, available at the Office of Equal Opportunity and Affirmative Action. Questions or concerns about sexual harassment should be directed to this office, located in 419 Morrill Hall. GEO 1007 Geobiology: The Origin and Evolution of Life Fall 2010 ż MWF 10:10-11:00 Course Syllabus Week 1: Overview W 8 Sep Course Overview: What is Life? F 10 Sep Science and the scientific study of the evolution of life on Earth Lab 0: No Lab this week Week 2: Evolution M 13 Sep Evolutionary theory and natural selection W 15 Sep Processes in Evolution: speciation, radiation, extinction F 17 Sep The Tree of Life: phylogeny reconstruction, cladograms, and trees Lab 1: Phylogenetic Analysis 1 Week 3: Biochemistry and Genetics M 20 Sep The Biochemical Composition of Life: elements and molecules W 22 Sep Genetics: DNA, genes and genomes F 24 Sep Genetics: inheritance, discrete and continuous variation Lab 2: Phylogenetic Analysis 2 Week 4: Biogeochemistry M 27 Sep Metabolic Pathways: converting matter to energy W 29 Sep Biogeochemical cycles (C, O, and S) F 1 Oct Microbes in the rock cycle Lab 3: Genetics (group lab) Week 5: Life and Time M 4 Oct Timescales of Evolution: from life history to Earth history W 6 Oct Plate tectonics and its impact on life F 8 Oct Exam 1 Lab 4: Natural Selection (group lab) Week 6: Origin of Life M 11 Oct Origin of Life on Earth: metabolism first, replication first, or both? W 13 Oct Origin of Life on Earth: experimental and biochemical models F 15 Oct Origin of Life on Earth: evidence from the fossil record of the Archean Era Lab 5: Fossils and Fossilization Week 7: Life and its Environment during the Proterozoic Era M 18 Oct Evolution of Eukarya: endosymbiosis, fossils and biomarkers W 20 Oct Of Sinks and Sources: microbes oxygenate the atmosphere F 22 Oct Snowball Earth, multicellular animals and the Ediacaran experiment Lab 6: Plate Tectonics and Evolution Week 8: The Diversification of Animal Life M 25 Oct The Cambrian żExplosionż and origins of modern animal phylum W 27 Oct Cambrian ecology, extinctions and carbon cycle variations F 29 Oct The Ordovician radiation and mass extinction Lab 7: Biogeochemical Cycles Week 9: Middle Paleozoic Life - 1 M 1 Nov Ecology of the Paleozoic Fauna: life above and below the seafloor W 3 Nov Origin and early evolution of vertebrates F 5 Nov Evolution of land plants and the Devonian mass extinction Lab 8: Biostratigraphy Week 10: Middle Paleozoic Life - 2 M 8 Nov From Fins to Feet: evolution of terrestrial vertebrates W 10 Nov Terrestrial ecosystems, sea level and oxygen during the Pennsylvanian F 12 Nov Exam 2 Lab 9: Phanerozoic Marine Evolutionary Faunas Week 11: Late Paleozoic and Early Mesozoic Life M 15 Nov Divergence and diversification of terrestrial vertebrates W 17 Nov Permo-Triassic Extinctions: why did life on Earth almost end? F 19 Nov The Mesozoic Marine Revolution: an evolutionary arms race Lab 10: Evolutionary Rates and Mammal Divergence (group lab) Week 12: The Early Mesozoic Era M 22 Nov Mechanisms of faunal turnover & the beginning of the Age of Dinosaurs W 24 Nov Hot and cold running dinosaurs F 26 Nov Thanksgiving break Lab 11: Functional Morphology of Mammals and Evolution of Grasslands Week 13: The Late Mesozoic Era M 29 Nov Evolution of flight in birds W 1 Dec Cretaceous-Paleogene Mass Extinction: impact and recovery F 3 Dec Methane Monkeys: origins of modern mammals and the carbon cycle Lab 12: Human Evolution Week 14: The Early Cenozoic Era M 6 Dec Evolution of whales W 8 Dec Growth of grasslands F 10 Dec Human evolution Lab 13: Lake Cores and Environment Change after the Ice Age (group lab) Week 15: The Late Cenozoic Era M 13 Dec The Ice Age and the Late Pleistocene extinction W 15 Dec Life elsewhere? GEOLOGY 1007 Geobiology: The Origin and Evolution of Life on Earth Natural Selection Lab - PRELIMINARY DRAFT Pre-lab Data Collection Take the first 10 minutes of class to continue to collect data for the ongoing semester experiment that your lab group is responsible for. Record the data and make any new observations and predictions. Natural Selection The concept of evolution did not originate with Charles Darwin. Darwinżs greatest contribution to science was the introduction of a theory to explain the causal mechanism behind evolution, which he termed natural selection. Darwin suggested that organisms that possess traits that are favorable for their specific environment are more likely to survive than other individuals in a population. Natural variability in morphology and genetic make-up exists in populations of species due to random genetic mutations. Nature żchoosesż what variations give an individual the greatest potential to successfully reproduce and survive, and those features that maximize an individualżs żfitnessż are what get passed on to future generations. Therefore, although the variation among individuals of a population may be random, natural selection is not. Every environment, at any scale, has a maximum number of individuals of a species that it can support, in terms of resources (i.e. space, food, water), called the carrying capacity. When organisms reproduce, the number of offspring produced often exceeds what can be supported by the environment. This situation, of a stressed population, creates selection pressure that results in the survival of those organisms more adaptively suited for the environment and the demise of organisms with less desirable traits. Thus, the phrase żsurvival of the fittestż has commonly been used to describe the process of natural selection. Essentially, natural selection serves to żweed outż individuals of a population that are less suited for their environment. For different environments different characteristics will be advantageous and increase the chance for successful reproduction and survival. Organisms tend to occupy ecological niches in which the characters they possess will provide them with the greatest chance of survival and reproductive success. Therefore, as environments change over time so can the selection pressure on organisms living in particular habitats. Environments that have more extreme climates typically have fewer ecological niches that can be occupied by species. Consequently, these environments are generally lower in diversity and species tend to be more specialized. An example of this type of environment would be the polar latitudes on Earth. In contrast, regions of greatest diversity on Earth (e.g., areas in the tropics) have a large range of ecological niches and many species in these environments are generalists, in that their characteristics allow them to tolerate more environmental stress than species adapted for more extreme environments. Lab Exercise: This week in lab you will be conducting an experiment to simulate how natural selection operates as the mechanism driving evolution. You should see spread throughout the room different color carpet samples representing different environments or ecosystems. Your TA is going to randomly distribute colored lengths of string, representing food resources (i.e. prey), over each of the carpet samples. You, the students, are male predators. The class will be divided into three groups, one per environment. Additionally, within each group, predators will consist of three different types (due to random variability in the population): 1) predators that can only use one hand to capture prey, 2) predators that have to wear żspecial glassesż with colored lenses, and 3) predators that can use two hands. Predators will be given a time limit of one minute for each individual in a group to gather as many pieces of string as possible. After each prey is caught it must be deposited in a designated container for each individual predator located a few feet away. Each predator can only capture one prey at a time. Therefore, the only limits on the number of prey that any single predator can capture are the predatorżs physical traits (e.g., speed, agility, ability to grasp, etc.), the density of prey in the environment, and competition (i.e. friendly competition; there will be no pushing). After the one-minute time limit has expired, each individual will count the number of strings of each color that they collected and enter the values into Table 1 of your lab worksheet. Only the males who were most successful at capturing prey will have impressed the ladies and be allowed to mate (we are not trying to be sexist here; this is simply the model that is applicable to many mammal groups). The traits of those predators will be passed on to the next generation. Similarly, only the strings (prey individuals) that were most successful at avoiding capture by predators will be allowed to reproduce and pass their genetic information on to future generations. Each of the surviving pieces of string then produce three offspring and the two most successful predators in each group produces two offspring. The experiment will be repeated for the first generation of offspring of predators and prey. Following the second trial, again each prey survivor produces three offspring and the two top predators produce two offspring each. Record the necessary data into Table 2. Repeat the experiment again for the third generation of predators and prey and create a fourth generation. Trial 1 Beginning Ancestral Population: Predators Prey 1 predator with two hands 10 short green strings 1 predator with one hand 10 long green strings 1 predator with tinted glasses 10 short red strings 10 long red strings 10 short brown strings 10 long brown strings Lab Worksheet 1. Make a prediction of what traits you would expect a fifth generation of offspring to possess. 2. Make a prediction of which predators you expect will be most successful at capturing prey? Explain your answer. Table 1. Ancestral Population Total number of prey remaining after first predation Environment Number of red strings Number of green strings Number of brown strings short long short long short long A B C Table 2. First Generation Offspring Starting number of prey Environment Number of red strings Number of green strings Number of brown strings short long short long short long A B C Total number of prey remaining after second predation Environment Number of red strings Number of green strings Number of brown strings short long short long short long A B C Table 3. Second Generation Offspring Starting number of prey Environment Number of red strings Number of green strings Number of brown strings short long short long short long A B C Total number of prey remaining after third predation Environment Number of red strings Number of green strings Number of brown strings short long short long short long A B C Table 4. Fourth Generation Offspring Prey type Environment A Environment B Environment C Red string short Red string long Green string short Green string long Brown string short Brown string long Predator type Two hands One hand Tinted glasses 3. Graph the change in population size over time (from generation to generation) for each of the string colors. 4. Which predators were most successful at capturing prey? What factors influenced the success of a predator? 5. Which color string was most successful at avoiding being captured in Environment A? In Environment B? What factors influenced the success of prey? 6. Was it easier to capture prey when the environment was densely populated or when prey was scarce? 7. Do you think the fourth generation represents the same species as the original population? Why or why not? 8. What aspect of natural selection is lacking in the experiment you conducted in this lab? Old: <no text provided>

Effective Term:

New: 1109 - Fall 2010
Old: 1089 - Fall 2008

Proposal Changes:

New: CLE proposal for Biological Science w/lab
Old: <no text provided>

Faculty
Sponsor E-mail Address:

New: dlfox@umn.edu
Old:

Student Learning Outcomes:

* Student in the course:

- Can identify, define, and solve problems

New:

Please explain briefly how this outcome will be addressed in the course. Give brief examples of class work related to the outcome.

Identifying, defining and solving problems is the heart of scientific inquiry and GEO 1007 is ideally suited to this learning outcome, especially as we have to base so much of our interpretation of past life on incomplete records. This incompleteness allows students to more fully explore the process of problem solving itself. As everything in past and present ecosystems interconnects, the course will engage students in the exploration of complex systems with interwoven feedback systems. Coupled with the incompleteness of the available data and records, this complexity mimics the type of open-ended, complex problem solving that students will face well beyond the courseżs term as citizens of a global society that must deal with serious environmental issues. Designed as open-ended experimentation, many of the laboratory modules will revolve about the analysis of data collected by students. As individual lab groups and as a joined class, students will work together to define problems, construct hypotheses and design ways to test competing hypotheses. In addition, lectures will not only cover żwhatż we know about Earthżs past life, but żhowż we know it, highlighting examples such as the origin of life, possible causes of mass extinction and the reasons for one groups successful radiation at the expense of competing forms.

How will you assess the students' learning related to this outcome? Give brief examples of how class work related to the outcome will be evaluated.

Problem solving is the basis of the laboratory modules and their completion will engage students as much in the process of identifying and defining problems as their solution. In addition, on-line quizzes, homework and exams will include questions focused on the evidence and reasoning behind interpretations rather than the interpretations themselves. Hence, successful problem solving will constitute a significant part of the course grade. As an example, rather than ask when dinosaurs began to dominate the landżs living community, quiz and exam questions will focus on the possible reasons why dinosaurs could achieve dominance, what advantages they had over contemporary competitors and why those advantages were important. How did their rise reflect the contemporary ecosystem and subsequently affect the direction of that ecosystemżs evolution?

Old: unselected

- Have mastered a body of knowledge and a mode of inquiry

New:

Please explain briefly how this outcome will be addressed in the course. Give brief examples of class work related to the outcome.

Geo 1007 is ideally suited to helping students master a body of knowledge and a mode of inquiry, specifically the knowledge, ways of knowing, and methods of inquiry common to biological sciences. A multidisciplinary approach to the evolution of life on Earth, this course will help students explore the ways in which scientists seek to understand the many interactions between life and earth processes and how they identify, define and solve problems within the field of biological inquiry. Skills gained by this exploration, and the understanding of how intimately life and earth processes are linked, are essential for becoming better-informed citizens of an increasingly global community. Designed as a systems-based and process-oriented exploration of earthżs present and past ecosystems, GEO 1007 places more emphasis on żhowż and żwhyż developments occurred than on żwhatż happened; more emphasis on the implications of developments, rather than the developments themselves. This approach highlights the many interactions between life and earth systems and emphasizes the realization that earthżs life and ecosystems continue to evolve and change; changes greatly accelerated by rise of agricultural and industrial societies. Lectures will stress the acquisition of evidence as well as its interpretation, the formulation and evaluation of hypotheses, and the predictive value of scientific modes of inquiry. Examples such as the origin and subsequent impact of the origin of life, the late Proterozoic Ice Ball Earth, and interrelationships between the development of land plants and the terminal Devonian marine extinction will illustrate this process.

How will you assess the students' learning related to this outcome? Give brief examples of how class work related to the outcome will be evaluated.

Laboratory exercises will consist of open-ended, inquiry-based explorations whose successful completion depends upon studentsż ability to master modes of scientific inquiry. Quizzes, homework and exams will emphasize the understanding of material, rather than its memorization, focusing on the connection between concepts and events, the subsequent impact of developments, and feedbacks within life, earth and climate systems. Many questions will explicitly target the reasoning and evidence behind interpretations rather than the interpretations themselves. Between lab, quizzes, homework and exams, a significant portion of the course assessment targets this learning outcome.

Old: unselected

- Have acquired skills for effective citizenship and life-long learning

New:

Please explain briefly how this outcome will be addressed in the course. Give brief examples of class work related to the outcome.

One of GEO 1007żs primary goals is that student acquire the skills and perspectives of scientific ways of knowing, which are immeasurably valuable in life-long learning, regardless of which path students follow. The ability to analyze a situation, evaluate evidence, formulate and test competing ideas is crucial to effective citizenship, especially in an increasingly global, interconnected society that faces some very serious environmental concerns. GEO 1007 is particularly well suited to this objective, as we have to base much of our understanding of life's evolution on incomplete records. The ability to make informed decisions about complex systems, in the absence of overwhelming data, is invaluable for citizens as many of the most pressing environmental issues our society faces will have to be addressed based on incomplete information and some degree of uncertainty. Consequently, the goal of GEO 1007 is to not only provide students with a strong understanding of lifeżs origin and evolution, but to also give them the skills, perspective, and intellectual abilities necessary to help guide this ongoing evolution in a world where humans have become one of the Earthżs most potent evolutionary forces.

How will you assess the students' learning related to this outcome? Give brief examples of how class work related to the outcome will be evaluated.

This is one of the major goals of the course so all aspects of the class design will contribute to its assessment. Laboratory modules will provide students with opportunities to learn and practice these skills in open-ended, inquiry-based exploration of very large, very incomplete data sets. Quizzes, homework assignments and exams focus on this learning objective, with questions geared towards assessing the studentsż mastery of different scientific ways of knowing, as well as their understanding of the linkages and interrelationships present within Earthżs living systems. Students will be expected to not only explain when angiosperms arose and why they came to dominate terrestrial flora, but will also be expected to explain how the rise of angiosperms reflected changes in the evolution of the Earthżs ecosystem prior to their rise and how their rise subsequently affected the evolution of terrestrial ecosystems, insect and animal lines. Students should then be able to compare these developments with the later rise, and subsequent effects, of agriculture and domestication of angiosperms, setting the stage for understanding the potency of future interactions between human society and angiosperm evolution.

Old: unselected

Requirement
this course fulfills:

New: BIOL - BIOL Biological Sciences
Old:

Criteria for
Core Courses:

Describe how the course meets the specific bullet points for the proposed core requirement. Give concrete and detailed examples for the course syllabus, detailed outline, laboratory material, student projects, or other instructional materials or method.

Core courses must meet the following requirements:

They explicitly help students understand what liberal education is, how the content and the substance of this course enhance a liberal education, and what this means for them as students and as citizens

They employ teaching and learning strategies that engage students with doing the work of the field, not just reading about it.

They include small group experiences (such as discussion sections or labs) and use writing as appropriate to the discipline to help students learn and reflect on their learning.

They do not (except in rare and clearly justified cases) have prerequisites beyond the Universityďż˝s entrance requirements.

They are offered on a regular schedule.

They are taught by regular faculty or under exceptional circumstances by instructors on continuing appointments. Departments proposing instructors other than regular faculty must provide documentation of how such instructors will be trained and supervised to ensure consistency and continuity in courses.

New:
General Criteria:
This course will examine the scientific evidence from biology, paleontology, and geology for the origin and subsequent evolution of life over the 4.5 billion year history of our Earth. To do this effectively, the course begins by introducing the fundamental concepts and terminology of these disciplines so that the students can understand and evaluate the evidence itself during the remainder of the course. The teaching of evolutionary theory, although not the theory itself, has continued to be controversial in the United States in no small part through misunderstandings and intentional miscommunications about the nature of science and scientific knowledge, the content and meaning of evolutionary theory itself, and the actual empirical observations from biology, paleontology, and geology that support evolutionary theory. Thus, from the outset students will have to examine what science is and how science is a way of knowing. This interdisciplinary approach is ideal for a liberal education curriculum. It introduces students to scientific ways of knowing and engages them in practicing modes of scientific inquiry in areas that fall at the intersection of life and earth processes. These are precisely the perspectives and types of inquiry necessary to navigate the many complex environmental issues that confront our society, so the course is ideally suited to preparing students to become informed and responsible citizens.

The courseżs overarching biological concepts constitute modern evolutionary theory. Thus, students will have to learn the ways in which biologists and paleontologists study and understand the evolution and diversification of life on Earth. These concepts will include the scientific meaning of organic evolution; natural selection, adaptation, and the origin and extinction of species; phylogeny reconstruction and the tree of life; the biochemical basis of life; the nature of DNA, genes, and genomes and their roles in replication and biological variability; and the diversity of metabolic pathways used by organisms to convert matter into useable forms of energy. To understand how geography, climate, and environments have changed through time, students will also have to understand the basic concepts of the two most fundamental ways in which geologists understand the Earth: its long history as expressed by the geological time scale and its dynamic nature as encapsulated in the theory of plate tectonics.

After developing a suitable conceptual framework, the remainder of the course will survey the biological, paleontological, biochemical, geochemical, and geological records of how life has evolved on Earth. Throughout, the emphasis will be on explaining observations in terms of our current understanding of evolutionary theory, the physical evolution of the planet, and the feedbacks between biotic and abiotic systems. Specific topics will include the theories for the origin of life from abiotic materials, the role of microbial organisms in shaping the chemistry of the atmosphere, the origin of multicellular organisms, the Cambrian explosion and the origin of the major lineages of modern animals, the origin of vertebrates, the evolution of terrestrial ecosystems, the Permo-Triassic mass extinction that almost erased all life from Earth, and the evolution of dinosaurs, whales, and humans.

Throughout the course, the historical and contingent nature of scientific knowledge will be emphasized with examples drawn from the historical development of biology and geology as disciplines. Comprehending how the Earth and its life have evolved to their present state reinforces the recognition that biological processes, especially human activities, continue to affect the Earth to a remarkable degree and that the Earth and its life are still evolving. These are crucial perspectives for an informed society. Understanding the history of life on Earth is necessarily an interdisciplinary endeavor, and students will learn how theories and information from diverse fields have shaped our understanding of Earth and our own place in it. Through this understanding, students will gain both the knowledge and the ways of thinking about life on Earth that will help them understand and confront the climatic, environmental, and biotic changes that face the society they will inherit from us.

Writing will constitute a substantial component of graded assignments. The labs will require short essay answers to both pre- and post-lab questions and the lab exercises themselves will include some short essay questions to synthesize material examined in each lab. Additionally, the group lab exercises will require lab groups to write formal lab reports that discuss the project and hypotheses tested, present the data generated over the course of the lab sessions, and summarize and synthesize data and results in terms of the initial hypotheses.

Specific criteria for biological sciences:
Given the controversy and misunderstanding that continues to surround teaching evolutionary theory in the United States, this course will consistently focus on the relationship between theoretical concepts and the empirical evidence that supports them. Additionally, the Earth will be presented as a complex system with processes that dynamically link the evolution of life to the evolution of the Earthżs surface, the atmosphere, and the oceans. The course will emphasize observational data from modern and paleontological studies of biodiversity, ecology, biogeochemistry, biochemistry, morphology, and phylogenetic analysis.

Students will also explore some of the larger unanswered questions in biology, such as how, when, and where did life begin on Earth; how did complex single-celled organisms with internal membranes (eukaryotes) evolve from organisms that lacked internal membranes; how, when, and where did multicellular organisms evolve; what causes major evolutionary radiations such as the Cambrian explosion and the diversification of mammals; what causes major mass extinctions; and how does life respond to climatic and environmental changes on various time scales?

Thirteen two-hour labs over the course of the semester will engage students in biological and paleontological research through hands-on experience and testing scientific hypotheses through data collection and analysis. Data sets and specimens used in the labs will be directly connected to relevant content in the lectures to tie the lectures and labs together. Examples of lab topics include: a two week exploration of phylogenetic analysis, in which students will use two of the most commonly used computer programs for phylogenetic analysis (PAUP and MacClade) to generate and interpret phylogenetic analyses for case studies of all animal phyla, Primates and hominoids, and ungulate mammals; plate tectonics and biogeography, in which students will use past plate configurations to infer processes responsible for current biogeographic patterns, as well as using current biogeographic patterns to infer past geographic configurations; biogeochemical modeling, in which students will use a common box modeling computer program (Stella) to explore the relationships between photosynthesis, atmospheric composition, and the greenhouse effect as well as the impacts of anthropogenic changes in atmospheric composition; and macroevolutionary processes, in which students will use counts of benthic marine species with different shell morphologies from several Paleozoic and Mesozoic periods to examine long-term changes in predator-prey relationships in the fossil record. Although statistical and quantitative analyses are featured parts of many labs, only one of the proposed labs is dominated by computer models. The rest are hands-on explorations of fossils, modern specimens, skull casts, research data sets and organic materials.

Four of the labs over the course of the semester will be based on long-term group projects. The basic goal of the group labs is for the students to undertake an extended set of measurements, experimental replicates, or series of procedures so that they have a more extended, and more realistic, experience with scientific methodologies. The group projects will yield larger data sets or more experimental replicates than would be possible in a single two hour lab session, and these larger data sets will be amenable to a greater range of quantitative analyses and graphic representations. Over a period of two to four weeks groups will spend 10-20 minutes of their weekly lab time acquiring and exploring data for this longer term project. The first week, the project will be introduced and background information presented. For each of the subsequent weeks, groups will collect data and develop multiple hypotheses. At the culmination of the project, groups will merge their data, participate in a final round of data collection or a final replicate of the experiment, and focus on analysis of the data and testing the previously developed hypotheses. Topics for these longer term labs include sequencing part of a human gene and examining genetic variability and molecular evidence for human-chimp-gorilla relationships within primates using a phylogenetic analysis of the sequence data generated and published data available through GenBank; experimental natural selection by żpredationż within populations of colored strings żlivingż and żreproducingż on monochrome environments (1 m2 swatches of shag carpeting); using basic biostatistics (mean, standard deviation, histograms, t-tests) and phylogenetic hypotheses to quantify evolution and evolutionary rates in the fossil record using large samples of late Paleocene and early Eocene mammal fossil teeth (Ectocion and Hyracotherium) from the Bighorn Basin, WY and in placental mammals using sequence data; and biological evidence (fossil pollen in a late Pleistocene through Holocene lake core from the northern Midwest) to examine ecological and climatic changes since the last glacial maximum.

Within these labs, students will also have the opportunity to confront mistakes, poor data, or unexpected results. As an example, the outcome of the physical experiment to explore natural selection using colored strings on colored patches of shag carpet is completely open and may not result in an expected or interpretable pattern. Another example is the lab on mammalian evolutionary rates in the fossil record. As part of this lab, student will explore random models of change based on coin tosses and be asked to pick among patterns that represent biased (i.e., directed) vs. random walks. By selecting the examples, students should be struck by the similarity between some process driven and random patterns. The goal of the lab will be to emphasize the need for careful hypothesis testing when deciding on process models to explain patterns.

Old:
<no text provided>

Provisional
Syllabus:

Please provide a provisional syllabus for new courses and courses in which changes in content and/or description and/or credits are proposed that include the following information: course goals and description; format/structure of the course (proposed number of instructor contact hours per week, student workload effort per week, etc.); topics to be covered; scope and nature of assigned readings (texts, authors, frequency, amount per week); required course assignments; nature of any student projects; and how students will be evaluated.

The University policy on credits is found under Section 4A of "Standards for Semester Conversion" at http://www.fpd.finop.umn.edu/groups/senate/documents/policy/semestercon.html . Provisional course syllabus information will be retained in this system until new syllabus information is entered with the next major course modification, This provisional course syllabus information may not correspond to the course as offered in a particular semester.

New: GEO 1007
Geobiology: Origin and Evolution of Life on Earth

Fall Semester - 2010, Time and Place TBA

LECTURERS:          David Fox, 207 Pillsbury Hall, 624-6361 (voice mail),
        e-mail: dlfox@umn.edu
        Jake Bailey, Office & Phone TBA
        e-mail: baileyj@umn.edu

OFFICE HOURS: TBA

Course Description

GEO 1007 will explore the scientific evidence from biology, paleontology, and geology for the origin and subsequent evolution of life over the 4.5 billion year history of our Earth. Earth appears to be a unique planet in its presence of life and the origin of life on Earth was one of the most important events in our planetżs history. The ongoing evolution of life affects the chemical composition of our atmosphere and ocean, changes the nature and rate of geological processes such as weathering and sedimentation, and alters cycling of the major elements critical for living organisms.

The course will begin by introducing fundamental concepts in modern biology and geology, such as the biochemical basis of life, natural selection and the origin of species, genetics, phylogeny reconstruction, plate tectonics, and the geological timescale. Throughout the semester, we will consider the many interactions between biological and geological processes, such as the cycling of elements critical to life on Earth, and how biological and geological processes and events have altered biogeochemical cycles. All of these fundamental concepts are basic tools for understanding the history of life, including the origin of life from non-biological materials, the origin of multicellular organisms, the Cambrian explosion and the origin of the major lineages of modern animals, the origin of vertebrates, the evolution of terrestrial ecosystems, the Permo-Triassic mass extinction that almost erased all life from Earth, and the evolution of dinosaurs, whales, and humans.

Laboratory modules will help students explore basic concepts and methods in geobiology, including natural selection, gene sequences, phylogenetic analysis, the carbon cycle, biostratigraphy, and analysis of evolutionary rates in the fossil record. In doing so, the laboratory activities will engage students in the ways of knowing common to all sciences.

Designed for undergraduate non-majors, this course satisfies CLE requirements as a biological science lab course (approval pending).

Course Web Site

http://webct.umn.edu/
(Log in to reach your class list.)

Course Materials

Lecture Text: Earth System History by Steven M. Stanley ż 3rd Edition
Copies are available at the University Bookstore in Coffman Memorial Union, and at the Student Book Store on the corner of 15th & University.

Lab Manual:        Labs will be posted on the course web site. Download, print and read each weekżs lab before coming to class.
Labs do NOT meet until Monday, Sept. 13!

Course Grades

Grades will be based on a combination of labs, biweekly on-line homework assignments that alternate with biweekly on-line quizzes, two midterm exams and a comprehensive final exam.

        Breakdown of course grade:
        Labs        20%        First Midterm        16%
        Biweekly Homework         16%        Second Midterm        16%
        Biweekly Quizzes        16%        Final Exam        16%

Date and Time of Final Exam - TBA
Exams will be a combination of multiple choice and short answer questions.
If you take the course on an S-N basis, University rules require a 'S' to be equivalent to a 'C-' or better.

Scholastic Conduct & Integrity

With the sole exception of the GEO 1007 in-class laboratory assignments, all assignments in GEO 1007 (homework, quizzes, midterms and final) are expected to be completed individually. Scholastic misconduct is broadly defined as "any act that violates the right of another student in academic work or that involves misrepresentation of your own work. Scholastic dishonesty includes, (but is not necessarily limited to): cheating on assignments or examinations; plagiarizing, which means misrepresenting as your own work any part of work done by another; submitting the same paper, or substantially similar papers, to meet the requirements of more than one course without the approval and consent of all instructors concerned; depriving another student of necessary course materials; or interfering with another student's work." If you are uncertain as to what the University considers inappropriate behavior, please refer to the Regentsż Policy on Student Conduct found at: http://www1.umn.edu/regents/policies/academic/StudentConduct.html

Council on Liberal Education (CLE) Requirements:
Geo 1007 is designed to satisfy the CLE requirements as a biological science with lab. Consequently, GEO 1007 will not only present our current understanding of the evolution of Earthżs life, but will explicitly explore how that understanding came to be.

General Criteria:
GEO 1007 will weave the scientific evidence from biology, paleontology, and geology together to explore the origin and subsequent evolution of life over the 4.5 billion year history of our Earth. From the outset, the course will also examine what science is and how science is a way of knowing. It will introduce students to scientific ways of knowing and engage them in practicing modes of scientific inquiry in areas that fall at the intersection of life and earth processes. The courseżs overarching biological concepts constitute modern evolutionary theory. Thus, we will examine the ways in which biologists and paleontologists study and understand the evolution and diversification of life on Earth. These concepts include: the scientific meaning of organic evolution; natural selection, adaptation, and the origin and extinction of species; phylogeny reconstruction and the tree of life; the biochemical basis of life; the nature of DNA, genes, and genomes and their roles in replication and biological variability; and the diversity of metabolic pathways used by organisms to convert matter into useable forms of energy. To understand how geography, climate, and environments have changed through time, we will also explore two of the most fundamental ways in which geologists understand the Earth: its long history as expressed by the geological time scale and its dynamic nature as encapsulated in the theory of plate tectonics.

After developing a strong conceptual framework, the remainder of the course will survey the biological, paleontological, biochemical, geochemical, and geological records of how life has evolved on Earth. Throughout, the emphasis will be on explaining observations in terms of our current understanding of evolutionary theory, the physical evolution of the planet, and the feedbacks between biotic and abiotic systems. Specific topics will include: the theories for the origin of life from abiotic materials, the role of microbial organisms in shaping the chemistry of the atmosphere, the origin of multicellular organisms, the Cambrian explosion and the origin of the major lineages of modern animals, the origin of vertebrates, the evolution of terrestrial ecosystems, the Permo-Triassic mass extinction that almost erased all life from Earth, and the evolution of dinosaurs, whales, and humans.

Throughout the course, the historical and contingent nature of scientific knowledge will be illustrated with examples drawn from the historical development of biology and geology as disciplines. Comprehending how the Earth and its life have evolved to their present state reinforces the recognition that biological processes, especially human activities, continue to affect the Earth to a remarkable degree and that the Earth and its life are still evolving. These are crucial perspectives for an informed society. Understanding the history of life on Earth is an interdisciplinary endeavor, and students will learn how theories and information from diverse fields have shaped our understanding of Earth and our own place in it. Through this understanding, we can gain both the knowledge and the ways of thinking about life on Earth that will help us understand and confront the climatic, environmental, and biotic changes that face the society our children will inherit.

Lab Sections

Refer to the course web site for details on lab assignments. You must download and print copies of the weekly lab before coming to class.

Labs start on Monday, September 13!

Course Policies/Etiquette

ż        Any reasonable accommodation will be provided for students with physical, sensory, learning and psychiatric disabilities. Please contact me for assistance as early as possible.

ż        If English is not your primary language and you would like to have additional time in which to take the quizzes, let me know. Anyone who needs additional time for the quizzes will be extended the same courtesy.

University policy prohibits sexual harassment as defined in the December 1998 policy statement, available at the Office of Equal Opportunity and Affirmative Action. Questions or concerns about sexual harassment should be directed to this office, located in 419 Morrill Hall.

GEO 1007
Geobiology: The Origin and Evolution of Life
Fall 2010 ż MWF 10:10-11:00

Course Syllabus

Week 1:         Overview
W        8 Sep        Course Overview: What is Life?
F        10 Sep        Science and the scientific study of the evolution of life on Earth

Lab 0:        No Lab this week

Week 2:         Evolution
M        13 Sep        Evolutionary theory and natural selection
W        15 Sep        Processes in Evolution: speciation, radiation, extinction
F        17 Sep        The Tree of Life: phylogeny reconstruction, cladograms, and trees

Lab 1:        Phylogenetic Analysis 1

Week 3:         Biochemistry and Genetics
M        20 Sep        The Biochemical Composition of Life: elements and molecules
W        22 Sep        Genetics: DNA, genes and genomes
F        24 Sep        Genetics: inheritance, discrete and continuous variation

Lab 2:        Phylogenetic Analysis 2

Week 4:         Biogeochemistry
M        27 Sep        Metabolic Pathways: converting matter to energy
W        29 Sep        Biogeochemical cycles (C, O, and S)
F        1 Oct        Microbes in the rock cycle

Lab 3:        Genetics (group lab)

Week 5:         Life and Time
M        4 Oct        Timescales of Evolution: from life history to Earth history
W        6 Oct        Plate tectonics and its impact on life
F        8 Oct        Exam 1

Lab 4:        Natural Selection (group lab)

Week 6:         Origin of Life
M        11 Oct        Origin of Life on Earth: metabolism first, replication first, or both?
W        13 Oct        Origin of Life on Earth: experimental and biochemical models
F        15 Oct        Origin of Life on Earth: evidence from the fossil record of the Archean Era

Lab 5:        Fossils and Fossilization

Week 7:         Life and its Environment during the Proterozoic Era
M        18 Oct        Evolution of Eukarya: endosymbiosis, fossils and biomarkers
W        20 Oct        Of Sinks and Sources: microbes oxygenate the atmosphere
F        22 Oct        Snowball Earth, multicellular animals and the Ediacaran experiment

Lab 6:        Plate Tectonics and Evolution

Week 8:         The Diversification of Animal Life
M        25 Oct        The Cambrian żExplosionż and origins of modern animal phylum
W        27 Oct        Cambrian ecology, extinctions and carbon cycle variations
F        29 Oct        The Ordovician radiation and mass extinction

Lab 7:        Biogeochemical Cycles

Week 9:         Middle Paleozoic Life - 1
M        1 Nov        Ecology of the Paleozoic Fauna: life above and below the seafloor
W        3 Nov        Origin and early evolution of vertebrates
F        5 Nov        Evolution of land plants and the Devonian mass extinction

Lab 8:        Biostratigraphy

Week 10: Middle Paleozoic Life - 2
M        8 Nov        From Fins to Feet: evolution of terrestrial vertebrates
W        10 Nov        Terrestrial ecosystems, sea level and oxygen during the Pennsylvanian
F        12 Nov        Exam 2

Lab 9:        Phanerozoic Marine Evolutionary Faunas

Week 11: Late Paleozoic and Early Mesozoic Life
M        15 Nov        Divergence and diversification of terrestrial vertebrates
W        17 Nov        Permo-Triassic Extinctions: why did life on Earth almost end?
F        19 Nov        The Mesozoic Marine Revolution: an evolutionary arms race

Lab 10:        Evolutionary Rates and Mammal Divergence (group lab)

Week 12: The Early Mesozoic Era
M        22 Nov        Mechanisms of faunal turnover & the beginning of the Age of Dinosaurs
W        24 Nov        Hot and cold running dinosaurs
F        26 Nov        Thanksgiving break

Lab 11:        Functional Morphology of Mammals and Evolution of Grasslands

Week 13: The Late Mesozoic Era
M        29 Nov        Evolution of flight in birds
W        1 Dec        Cretaceous-Paleogene Mass Extinction: impact and recovery
F        3 Dec        Methane Monkeys: origins of modern mammals and the carbon cycle

Lab 12:        Human Evolution

Week 14: The Early Cenozoic Era
M        6 Dec        Evolution of whales
W        8 Dec        Growth of grasslands
F        10 Dec        Human evolution

Lab 13:        Lake Cores and Environment Change after the Ice Age (group lab)

Week 15: The Late Cenozoic Era
M        13 Dec        The Ice Age and the Late Pleistocene extinction
W        15 Dec        Life elsewhere?

GEOLOGY 1007
Geobiology: The Origin and Evolution of Life on Earth

Natural Selection Lab - PRELIMINARY DRAFT

Pre-lab Data Collection
        Take the first 10 minutes of class to continue to collect data for the ongoing semester experiment that your lab group is responsible for. Record the data and make any new observations and predictions.

Natural Selection
        The concept of evolution did not originate with Charles Darwin. Darwinżs greatest contribution to science was the introduction of a theory to explain the causal mechanism behind evolution, which he termed natural selection. Darwin suggested that organisms that possess traits that are favorable for their specific environment are more likely to survive than other individuals in a population. Natural variability in morphology and genetic make-up exists in populations of species due to random genetic mutations. Nature żchoosesż what variations give an individual the greatest potential to successfully reproduce and survive, and those features that maximize an individualżs żfitnessż are what get passed on to future generations. Therefore, although the variation among individuals of a population may be random, natural selection is not.
Every environment, at any scale, has a maximum number of individuals of a species that it can support, in terms of resources (i.e. space, food, water), called the carrying capacity. When organisms reproduce, the number of offspring produced often exceeds what can be supported by the environment. This situation, of a stressed population, creates selection pressure that results in the survival of those organisms more adaptively suited for the environment and the demise of organisms with less desirable traits. Thus, the phrase żsurvival of the fittestż has commonly been used to describe the process of natural selection. Essentially, natural selection serves to żweed outż individuals of a population that are less suited for their environment.
For different environments different characteristics will be advantageous and increase the chance for successful reproduction and survival. Organisms tend to occupy ecological niches in which the characters they possess will provide them with the greatest chance of survival and reproductive success. Therefore, as environments change over time so can the selection pressure on organisms living in particular habitats. Environments that have more extreme climates typically have fewer ecological niches that can be occupied by species. Consequently, these environments are generally lower in diversity and species tend to be more specialized. An example of this type of environment would be the polar latitudes on Earth. In contrast, regions of greatest diversity on Earth (e.g., areas in the tropics) have a large range of ecological niches and many species in these environments are generalists, in that their characteristics allow them to tolerate more environmental stress than species adapted for more extreme environments.

Lab Exercise:
This week in lab you will be conducting an experiment to simulate how natural selection operates as the mechanism driving evolution. You should see spread throughout the room different color carpet samples representing different environments or ecosystems. Your TA is going to randomly distribute colored lengths of string, representing food resources (i.e. prey), over each of the carpet samples. You, the students, are male predators.
The class will be divided into three groups, one per environment. Additionally, within each group, predators will consist of three different types (due to random variability in the population): 1) predators that can only use one hand to capture prey, 2) predators that have to wear żspecial glassesż with colored lenses, and 3) predators that can use two hands.
Predators will be given a time limit of one minute for each individual in a group to gather as many pieces of string as possible. After each prey is caught it must be deposited in a designated container for each individual predator located a few feet away. Each predator can only capture one prey at a time. Therefore, the only limits on the number of prey that any single predator can capture are the predatorżs physical traits (e.g., speed, agility, ability to grasp, etc.), the density of prey in the environment, and competition (i.e. friendly competition; there will be no pushing).
After the one-minute time limit has expired, each individual will count the number of strings of each color that they collected and enter the values into Table 1 of your lab worksheet. Only the males who were most successful at capturing prey will have impressed the ladies and be allowed to mate (we are not trying to be sexist here; this is simply the model that is applicable to many mammal groups). The traits of those predators will be passed on to the next generation. Similarly, only the strings (prey individuals) that were most successful at avoiding capture by predators will be allowed to reproduce and pass their genetic information on to future generations. Each of the surviving pieces of string then produce three offspring and the two most successful predators in each group produces two offspring. The experiment will be repeated for the first generation of offspring of predators and prey. Following the second trial, again each prey survivor produces three offspring and the two top predators produce two offspring each. Record the necessary data into Table 2. Repeat the experiment again for the third generation of predators and prey and create a fourth generation.

Trial 1
Beginning Ancestral Population:
Predators        Prey
1 predator with two hands        10 short green strings
1 predator with one hand        10 long green strings
1 predator with tinted glasses        10 short red strings
        10 long red strings
        10 short brown strings
        10 long brown strings

Lab Worksheet

1. Make a prediction of what traits you would expect a fifth generation of offspring to possess.

2. Make a prediction of which predators you expect will be most successful at capturing prey? Explain your answer.

Table 1. Ancestral Population

Total number of prey remaining after first predation
Environment        Number of red   strings        Number of green strings        Number of brown strings

        short        long        short        long        short        long
A
B
C

Table 2. First Generation Offspring

Starting number of prey
Environment        Number of red   strings        Number of green strings        Number of brown strings

        short        long        short        long        short        long
A
B
C

Total number of prey remaining after second predation
Environment        Number of red   strings        Number of green strings        Number of brown strings

        short        long        short        long        short        long
A
B
C
Table 3. Second Generation Offspring

Starting number of prey
Environment        Number of red   strings        Number of green strings        Number of brown strings

        short        long        short        long        short        long
A
B
C

Total number of prey remaining after third predation
Environment        Number of red   strings        Number of green strings        Number of brown strings

        short        long        short        long        short        long
A
B
C
Table 4. Fourth Generation Offspring
Prey type        Environment A        Environment B        Environment C
Red string short
Red string long
Green string short
Green string long
Brown string short
Brown string long
Predator type
Two hands
One hand
Tinted glasses

3. Graph the change in population size over time (from generation to generation) for each of the string colors.

4. Which predators were most successful at capturing prey? What factors influenced the success of a predator?

5. Which color string was most successful at avoiding being captured in Environment A? In Environment B? What factors influenced the success of prey?

6. Was it easier to capture prey when the environment was densely populated or when prey was scarce?

7. Do you think the fourth generation represents the same species as the original population? Why or why not?

8. What aspect of natural selection is lacking in the experiment you conducted in this lab?

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