Paleoenvironments Course Syllabus

Prof. Laurel Collins

Fall 2011

Tu/Th 9:30-10:45 am, GC 279B (PC 448 for some Activities Days)

3 credits

Combined sections for the following courses:

BSC 4304 Environments of the Past

(satisfies Ecology distribution requirement for Biology majors)

GLY 4660 Paleoecology

GLY 5108 Paleoecology and Paleoenvironments

Course Description and Objectives - This multidisciplinary course teaches students how to interpret environmental changes through time, with an integration of paleobiology, ecology, sedimentology, stratigraphy, and geochemistry. Topics include local environmental changes and regional to global climate changes of the past, synecology of fossils, paleobiodiversity, changes in communities over geologic time, sedimentary facies and environments, skeletal mineralogy, stable isotopes of oxygen and carbon, paleotemperature and paleobiogeography.  The main objectives are to develop an understanding of how environments and climate on Earth have changed through time, and how this is studied. Activities days give students a taste of the scientific discovery process, and increase their skills in problem solving and deductive reasoning.

Course Outline

Instructor  -  Prof. Laurel Collins, Department of Earth and Environment, and Department of Biological Sciences. Contact information: collinsl@fiu.edu (preferred) or (305) 348-1732.  Office hours: M & F 9-10:30 in PC 435. If a course or work conflicts with these office hours, email or call for an appointment.

Recommended (optional) textbook  -  P.J. Brenchley & D.A.T. Harper, 1998, Palaeoecology: Ecosystems, Environments and Evolution: Chapman and Hall, N.Y.  $60 used, $80 new at FIU Bookstore. The textbook reading is recommended because much of the lectures are based on large parts of the chapters listed in the Course Outline, and because you are responsible on the exams for knowing the content of all of the lectures.

Grading  -  Final grades are based on the assigned activities (33%), midterm exam (30%), and final exam (37%). The assignment of points to grades is as follows:  A =93-100%, A- = 90-92%, B+ =87-89%, B = 83-86%, B- = 80-82%, C+ = 77-79%, C = 73-76%, C- = 70-72%, D+ = 67-69%, D = 63-66%, D- = 60-62%, F = 0-59%. The final exam is based only on the material covered after the midterm exam.

            Activities:  These are designed for more informal, active learning. The format varies but includes working with specimens, discussing assigned articles, written exercises and reviews for exams. There are 11 scheduled days of activities, with 3% of your grade earned each activities day. Most of the activities are not able to be made up if missed; however, students are allowed to miss one Activities Day and receive full credit.

            Exams cover the information from class (including videos) and the parts of the textbook that have been covered in class. Makeup exams are rarely given, and are only given in extreme circumstances that can be well documented, such as serious illness, a death in the family, or a family emergency. Going out of town is not a valid reason for missing exams or planned activities, so if you have a trip scheduled for any of these times, do not take this course.

Grading for graduate students  -  Final grades are based on the assigned activities (20%), midterm exam (25%), final exam (25%), a research paper (20%) and a short (12-minute) presentation (10%). The paper is due on the last day of class. The paper should address some aspect of paleoenvironments, ideally relating your own research or area of research interest to the subject of paleoenvironments.