BIOL 487L - Ichthyology Lab

Time: Wednesday 2:00-5:00, Room: Castetter 120

TA: Wade Wilson, 277-4191, wwilson@unm.edu

Office Hours: Mondays 10-11, Winnings (coffee house; 111 Harvard), or by appointment, email is the most effective way of reaching me.

Lab Policy and Grading:

Active participation is required in all lab activities. Valid excuses for absence are limited to emergencies, illness, and/or death in family. Please contact me early regarding any disability you feel may interfere with your ability to fully participate in lab activities so we can make arrangements.

Lab activities (including field trips) will often include sketches and notes (in pencil or permanent ink, do not use ball point pens), so you will need to purchase a bound notebook (spiral notebooks are not acceptable). Your grade will not be based on artistic ability but rather on accuracy and thoroughness. Working together on lab activities is fine, however, each person must turn in their own work. If I receive identical works, neither will receive credit.

The lab is worth 200 points and is included in the grade you get for the class as a whole (lecture + lab). See Lecture Syllabus for grade scale:

Here is the breakdown for the 200 points:

Field Participation (3 @ 10 points each) 30 points

Notebook 40 points

Quizzes (6 @ 5 points each): 30 points

Aquarium Report: 25 points

Lab Practical (cumulative) 75 points

TOTAL 200 points

Field Trips:

· Participation in the day trips (Jemez, Rio Grande, and ABQ Aquarium) is required. Not only do you have to show up, but you also will need to get involved in the work to earn full credit. Field activities will include fish sampling, collecting, and sorting, as well as taking field notes on the fish data and habitat. The water is cold this time of year, so I recommend purchasing waders.

· Electroshocking REQUIRES that you wear waders when in the water.

· The Spring Break field trip will involve driving to and sampling some of the lakes and drainages of Oklahoma. Since it takes place during break, attendance is not mandatory and there will be no grade associated with the field trip other than the follow-up work in lab. I will provide you with more details about the trip, as we get closer to going.

Lab Schedule - Spring 2006 (may be modified as we proceed)

Week 1	18-Jan	Introduction to lab and Ichthyology - content, grading, syllabus Tour of Division of Fishes (Lex Snyder, Collections Manager)
Week 2	25-Jan	Basic Anatomy I: external
Week 3	1-Feb	Basic Anatomy II: internal	QUIZ 1: External Anatomy
Week 4	8-Feb	Introduction to Systematics and Taxonomy: dichotomous keys; introduction to field methods; field notes	QUIZ 2: Internal Anatomy
Week 5	15-Feb	Field Trip to Aquarium	Report due 22 Feb
Week 6	22-Feb	Chondrichthyes and Ancestral Fishes: identification and distribution of some major families	Aquarium Report Due
Week 7	1-Mar	Osteichthyes I: identification and distribution of some major families	QUIZ 3: Chondrichthyes and Ancestral Fishes
Week 8	8-Mar	Fishes of Oklahoma: identification	QUIZ 4: Osteichthyes
Week 9	15-Mar	Oklahoma Field Trip - Spring Break
Week 10	22-Mar	Osteichthyes II: identification and distribution of some major families
Week 11	29-Mar	Fishes of New Mexico Part I: identification	QUIZ 5: Fishes of Oklahoma, Osteichthyes
Week 12	5-Apr	Field Trip
Week 13	12-Apr	Field Trip
Week 14	19-Apr	Fishes of New Mexico Part II: identification, enumeration, and morphometrics of fishes from trips	QUIZ 6: Fishes of New Mexico, Osteichthyes
Week 15	26-Apr	Larval Fishes: Howard Brandenburg (MSB) Field methods for larval and juvenile fishes
Week 16	3-May	Lab Practical Exam	Notebooks Due