BIOL 487H Tropical Field Biology (4 credits) Syllabus Spring 2019 - International Programs Office
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BIOL 487H Tropical Field Biology (4 credits)
Syllabus ‐ Spring 2019
Course objectives:
Through intensive, first‐hand experience in the classroom and overseas in tropical lowland
rainforest and marine ecosystems in Belize, we pose three challenges for you to meet.
Primary is that you learn what it is to be a field biologist: how to design, justify, carry out,
analyze, interpret and present ecological research by doing independent research projects,
in this case in the rainforest. Second and equally important, is to become conversant in the
basics of tropical biodiversity, in particular the ecology, behavior, taxonomy, physiology and
conservation of tropical organisms, combining your classroom experience with close
observation of living organisms in nature. And third, we challenge you to synthesize the
diverse facets of your UMass educational experience by integrating the scientific aspects of
the course, the cultural diversity of your overseas experience and your own future goals,
and by taking advantage of the numerous opportunities to discuss these ‘big questions’
among yourselves and with your instructors.
Instructors:
Paul Sievert (birds) psievert@eco.umass.edu
Tristram Seidler (plants) tseidler@bio.umass.edu
Christiane Healey (fishes) cihealey@bio.umass.edu
Adam Porter (insects/invertebrates) aporter@bio.umass.edu
Steve McCormick (fishes) mccormick@umext.umass.edu
Time and place:
We will meet each Tuesday and Thursday, 4:00‐5:15 P.M. in Morrill 1 North 448
Course structure:
The course has three main components: 1) Twice‐weekly pre‐trip lectures, 2) ten days of
field study in Belize, and 3) twice‐weekly post‐trip meetings, which will be used mainly for
student presentations.
Course expectations and grading:
1. Homework. You will have five homework assignments before the fieldtrip; you will have a
week to finish each one. Each assignment will be graded on a 10‐point scale, and the points
you accumulate over the pre‐trip lectures will account for 20% of your final grade. In
addition, we expect that you will read all assigned reading material.
2. A field notebook. We expect that you will keep a field notebook containing a daily record
of your observations during the field trip. Your notebook should document the species that
you observe each day; your observations of biological patterns, processes, and behaviors;
and ideas and scientific questions that come to you during your days and nights in the field.
Your field notebook will account for 10% of your final grade.
13. A course project. You will devise, propose, and design an ecological research project, and
then collect your data in the Belize rainforest. Draft proposal worksheets are due on
Thursday, February 14th, and complete, fully detailed proposals are due before we leave.
When we return, you will analyze your data and (most importantly) identify how your
results fit into the broader context of published scientific research on that and related
topics. You will then develop a 15‐minute oral presentation to the class, and a written
scientific paper detailing your research in a more precise way. The presentations will begin
two weeks after we return, so we expect the earlier presentations to be “works in progress”
and later presentations to be complete. The research proposal, oral presentation, and
paper will together account for 60% of your final grade.
4. Attendance. We expect each course participant to attend all pre‐trip and post‐trip course
meetings. Attendance will account for 10% of your final grade.
Some project advice:
Developing and justifying a topic for your project is one of the primary goals of the pre‐trip
portion of the course, and it’s surprisingly hard to do well alone. But there’s a competing
surprise: it’s the rare scientist who tries to do this without talking out their thoughts and
eventually their experimental designs with their own colleagues and students. So, be
normal and take advantage of the course instructors and your peers throughout the
development of your project idea. Read widely as ideas emerge. A good project typically
combines a simple experiment or two, or easily collected observations, that you can
complete in the short time we have in the field, with follow‐up research when we return.
We will share with you a list of project ideas; you may use one of these ideas as the basis of
your project or you may develop an idea of your own.
Things you absolutely must have:
1) VALID PASSPORT (& if you are not a US citizen, a Visa for Belize)
2) A waterproof notebook for your field journal (Amazon or Hastings Bookstore in Amherst)
3) Mask, fins, and snorkel
4) A good understanding of the separate document, Orientation to Belize and BFREE‐
2018.pdf
Web site:
This is a paperless course. We use Moodle to host the course website, where we post all
assignments and course resources, and where you should upload your completed
assignments.
Required texts:
How to do Ecology (2nd edn). Karban, Huntzinger & Pierce, 2014
JMP‐Pro statistical software (free download via IT, for UMass students)
2Recommended resources (alphabetically):
Biodiversity of the Maya Mountains. Dourson, D. C. 2012
Birds of Belize. Jones & Gardner, 2004
New Neotropical Companion. Kricher, J. 2017
Reef Fish Identification – Florida, Caribbean, Bahamas (4th edn). Humann & Deloach, 2014
Reef Coral Identification – Florida, Caribbean, Bahamas (3rd edn). Humann & Deloach, 2013
Reef Creature Identification – Florida, Caribbean, Bahamas (3rd edn). Humann, Deloach &
Wilk, 2013
Students with disabilities:
If you have a disability, we are prepared and eager to try to accommodate it. However,
over spring break we will be spending a good deal of time in Belize in buses, boats,
rainforest trails, and on a rustic island on the barrier reef. So, to the extent that your
disability affects your mobility, significant preparations by our partners in Belize could be
necessary. In that case, please consult with us in the first week of the course so we can get
that sorted out.
Academic honesty:
Nobody has ever cheated in this course (to our knowledge, obviously) and we’re not
worried that anyone will. Still, we have to say something about it here. If you plagiarize on
any assignment, or turn in work that you did not do yourself, or do someone’s assignment
for them, then we will drop your final course grade by one full letter. So, an A becomes a B;
a B‐ becomes a C‐, and so on. However, if you go so far as to intentionally falsify any of your
data, then we will fail you in the course. (Once you become a scientist in the real world,
though, the penalty for data falsification is even worse: your entire career is ruined and
none of your previous research is considered valid unless someone else repeats it.) Per
UMass policy, you will have the opportunity to accept our penalty without the infraction
appearing in your academic record, or to contest the charge in a hearing before the
Academic Honesty Board. In that case, if you win then there’s no penalty, but if you lose,
you get the penalty plus it appears in your academic record. The full details are spelled out
in the attachments on the UMass Academic Honesty page.
3Lecture Schedule ‐ BIOL‐487H Tropical Field Biology 2019
Meets Tues/Thus, 4‐5:15, Morrill 1 North 448
Jan 22 Class photos, IPO guidance and a brief discussion of the class (Paul)
Jan 24 Climate, geography, and history of Belize (Tristram)
Jan 29 Neotropical terrestrial invertebrates (Adam)
Jan 31 Avian ecology (Paul)
Paul assigns homework
Feb 5 Getting Data in the Field (Adam)
Adam assigns homework
Feb 7 Tropical plant ecology (Tristram)
Paul’s homework due
Tristram assigns homework
Feb 12 Behavioral ecology & sexual selection (Adam)
Adam assigns homework
Feb 14 Stats I (Paul) ‐‐ Project worksheets due
Tristram’s homework due
Paul assigns homework
Feb 19 NO CLASS ‐ Monday Schedule
Feb 21 Tropical forest plants (Tristram)
Adam’s homework due
Feb 26 Marine invertebrates (Steve) / International Programs Office orientation
Steve assigns Fish Blitz topics (Stacy)
Feb 28 Fish biology (Christiane)
Paul’s homework due
Mar 5 Fish Blitz (Steve) ‐‐ Project Materials Checklist Due
Mar Neotropical herpetology (Al Richmond)
Mar 8‐17 Field trip to Belize
Field site lectures to be determined
Mar 19 Recovery day
Mar 21 Stats II (Paul)
Bring: JMP statistical software on your laptop
Mar 26 Presenting your data (Adam and Steve)
Assigned reading: Bates College scientific writing document
Mar 28 Project assistance / Q&A (all faculty)
Apr 2 Project assistance / Q&A (all faculty)
Apr 4 Student presentations (x3)
Apr 9 Student presentations (x3)
Apr 11 Student presentations (x4)
Apr 16 Student presentations (x3)
Apr 18 Student presentations (x4)
Apr 23 Student presentations (x4)
Apr 25 Student presentations (x3)
Apr 30 Course evaluation
4BELIZE ITINERARY: 8‐17 March 2019 (draft)
Day 1: Friday, 8 March ‐ Depart UMass for Belize, Maya Center
• Depart Hartford, CT, for Phillip W. Goldson International Airport, Belize City
• Visit market in Belmopan
• Stay in Maya Center overnight
Day 2: Saturday, 9 March ‐ Lime Caye
• Following breakfast, travel to Mango Creek
• Take boat to Lime Caye
• Arrive at Lime Caye: orientation, tour of facilities
Day 3: Sunday, 10 March ‐ Lime Caye
• Activities TBD by instructors
• Snorkel trips
Day 4: Monday, 11 March ‐ Lime Caye
• Activities TBD by instructors
• Snorkel trips
Day 5: Tuesday, 12 March ‐ BFREE Biological Field Station
• Following breakfast take boat to Punta Gorda
• Travel by van to BFREE entrance road and hike in, gear transported by 4x4 vehicle
• Orientation, tour of the facilities, and project discussion
Day 6: Wednesday, 13 March ‐ BFREE Biological Field Station
• Early morning bird mist‐netting with local avian technician, Gato
• Research projects & activities TBD by Instructors
Day 7: Thursday, 14 March ‐ BFREE Biological Field Station
• Research projects & activities TBD by Instructors
Day 8: Friday, 15 March ‐ BFREE Biological Field Station
• Research projects & activities TBD by Instructors
Day 9: Saturday, 16 March ‐ Tropical Education Center
• Hike out of BFREE
• Travel north to the Tropical Education Center (TEC)
• Night tour of the Belize Zoo
Day 10: Sunday, 17 March 17 ‐ Depart Belize for UMass
• Drive to Phillip W. Goldson International Airport for flight to Hartford,CT
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