Class Meetings: Mon, Wed, Fri 3:00 5:50Pm Bayou Bldg. 2236

BIOL 4931.40 Tropical Rainforest Ecology Summer 2007 1st 5-week Term Syllabus

Class meetings: Mon, Wed, Fri 3:00 – 5:50pm Bayou Bldg. 2236

Instructor: Dr. Cindy Howard Office: Bayou Building, Faculty Suite 3525 Telephone: (281) 283-3745 (please leave a message if you don’t get an answer) E-mail: [email protected] (best way to contact me) Office hours: MWF 1:00-3:00 pm; other times by appointment Webpage: http://sce.uhcl.edu/howard/ Course Kricher, J. 1999. A neotropical companion: an introduction to the animals, Materials plants and ecosystems of the new world tropics. 2nd edition. Princeton University Press, Princeton, NJ. 451p. ISBN 0-691-00974-0.

Lecture outlines and other handout materials will be available at the beginning of each class period.

Prerequisites: General ecology recommended.

Course objective: To provide students with a conceptual knowledge of tropical rain forest ecology, particularly the neotropical rain forest of the Amazon basin. Topics covered include physical and geological characteristics; ecology, taxonomy and natural history of tropical plants and animals; coevolutionary relationships between plants and animals; and forest-human interactions.

Methodology: Class lectures and discussions, video and slide presentations, ethnobotany sampling. Lecture attendance is strongly recommended, as the exams will cover material presented in lectures that is not necessarily found in the textbook. All students who successfully complete this course will be eligible for discounted fees on any future UHCL Amazon expedition.

Grading: Three exams will cover all material presented in class, as well as reading assignments and videos. Each exam will consist of two parts and will be worth one third of the final course grade. The two exam parts will consist of a required, closed book/note objective section and an optional, closed book/note, extra-credit taxonomy section. Two 8.5x11” scantrons will be used for each exam. There will be no other types of extra credit available.

Grading scale: A 92-100% B 80-85% C 70-75% D 60-65% A- 88-91% B- 78-79% C- 68-69% D- 58-59% B+ 86-87% C+ 76-77% D+ 66-67% F <58%

All students are expected to take exams on the dates scheduled on the syllabus. There will be no make- up exams in this course. Instead, all students will have the opportunity to replace their lowest test score with the score on an optional comprehensive final, available following Exam 3 on the last day of class.

Incompletes and withdrawals: The last date to drop this course without a grade penalty is June 18, 2007. In accordance with UHCL policy, an incomplete grade (I) can only be assigned if the student is making satisfactory progress, but cannot complete the course for a documentable reason.

1 Academic Honesty: Please review the UHCL Academic Honesty Policy in the current catalog. All students are expected to abide by the UHCL Honesty Code, which states, “I will be honest in all my academic activities and will not tolerate dishonesty.” Your participation in this class constitutes your acceptance of the UHCL Academic Honesty Policy. Please be aware that cheating of any kind will not be tolerated in this class and penalties will be applied in accordance with UHCL policy (e.g., a zero on the exercise in question, an F in the course or suspension from the university).

Disabilities: Students with disabilities requiring consideration with regard to exams, note taking, etc. (ADA, Section 503) should notify the instructor and consult the Disabilities Services Office for assistance. Tape recorders are permitted in class.

Additional sources for material presented in class: Bartlett, R.D, and P. Bartlett. 2003. Reptiles and amphibians of the Amazon. University Press of Florida, Gainesville, FL. 291 pp. Castner, J.L., S.L. Timme and J.A. Duke. 1998. A field guide to medicinal and useful plants of the upper Amazon. Feline Press, Gainesville, FL. 154 pp. Forsyth, A. and K. Miyata. 1984. Tropical nature. Scribners Publishers, New York, NY. Goulding, M. 1980. The fishes and the forest: explorations in Amazonian natural history. University of California Press, Berkeley, CA. 253 pp. Gentry, A.H. 1993. A field guide to the woody plants of northwest South America. Univ. of Chicago Press, Chicago, IL. 895 pp. Gentry, A.H., ed. 1990. Four neotropical rainforests. Yale Univ. Press, New Haven, CT. 627 pp. Henderson, A. 1995. The palms of the Amazon. Oxford Univ. Press, New York, NY. 362 pp. Hilty, S. 1994. Birds of tropical America: a watcher’s introduction to behavior, breeding and diversity. Chapters Publishing, Ltd., Shelburne, VT. 304 pp. Holm-Nielsen, L.B., I.C. Nielsen and H. Balslev, eds. 1989. Tropical forests: botanical dynamics, speciation and diversity. Academic Press, Harcourt Brace Jovanovich Publishers, New York, NY. 380 pp. Jordan, C.F., ed. 1986. Amazonian rain forests: ecosystem disturbance and recovery. Springer-Verlag Ecological Studies, Berlin. 133 pp. Junk, W.J. 1997. The central Amazon floodplain: ecology of a pulsing system. Springer-Verlag, Berlin. 525 pp. Maas, P.J.M. and L.Y.Th. Westra. 1993. Neotropical plant families: a concise guide to families of vascular plants in the neotropics. Koeltz Scientific Books, Champaign, IL. 289 pp. Mabberley, D.J. 1992. Tropical rain forest ecology, 2nd ed. Chapman and Hall Publishers, New York, NY. Orians, G.H., R. Dirzo and J. H. Cushman, eds. 1996. Biodiversity and ecosystem processes in tropical forests. Springer-Verlag Ecological Studies, Berlin. 229 pp. Prance, G.T. and J.A. Kallunk, eds. 1984. Ethnobotany in the neotropics. Advances in Economic Botany, Vol. 1. The New York Botanical Garden, The Bronx, NY. 156 pp. Prance, G.T. and T.E. Lovejoy, eds. 1985. Key environments: Amazonia. Pergamon Press, Oxford. 442 pp. Seidl, P.R., O.R. Gottlieb and M.A. Coelho Kaplan. 1995. Chemistry of the Amazon: biodiversity, natural products and environmental issues. ACS Symposium Series 588. American Chemical Society, Washington, DC. 315 pp. Sick, H. 1993. Birds in Brazil: a natural history. Princeton University Press, Princeton, NJ. Smith, N.J.H. 1999. The Amazon River forest: a natural history of plants, animals and people. Oxford University Press, New York. 208 pp. Val, A.L. and V.M.F. de Almeida-Val. 1995. Fishes of the Amazon and their environment: physiological and biochemical aspects. Springer-Verlag, Berlin. 224 pp. Whitmore, T.C. and J.A. Sayer, eds. Tropical deforestation and species extinction. Chapman and Hall, London. 153 pp.

2 BIOL 4931.40 Tropical Rainforest Ecology MWF 3:00 – 5:50pm Summer 2007 1st 5-week Term Bayou Bldg. 2236

Course schedule (subject to revision):

Date Topic Reading: Kricher (1999)

Wed 05/30 Course introduction (syllabus, schedule, class policies) Chps. 1, 2, 3, 8 Introduction to tropical rainforests and the Amazon

Fri 06/01 Amazon rainforest geomorphology and soils; plant communities Chps. 3, 4

Mon 06/04 Neotropical rainforest plant ecology and community succession Chps. 2, 3, 8

Wed 06/06 Exam 1 (3:00 – 4:30pm) Amazon rainforest ecology videos (4:30 – 5:30pm)

Fri 06/08 Neotropical rainforest plant – animal coevolutionary relationships 1 Chps. 3, 5, 6

Mon 06/11 Neotropical rainforest plant – animal coevolutionary relationships 2 Chps. 3, 5, 6 Ecology of Amazon insects

Wed 06/13 Ecology of Amazon fish Chp. 8

Fri 06/15 Ecology of neotropical rainforest reptiles and amphibians Chps. 8, 13

Mon 06/18 Exam 2 (3:00 – 4:30pm) Amazon rainforest ecology videos (4:30 – 5:30pm)

Wed 06/20 Ecology of neotropical rainforest birds Chps. 8, 12

Fri 06/22 Ecology of neotropical rainforest mammals Chps. 6, 13

Mon 06/25 Amazon human ecology, agroforestry and conservation Chps. 7, 14

Wed 06/27 Amazon ethnobotany Chp 6

Fri 06/29 Exam 3 (3:00 – 4:30pm) [Optional comprehensive final to replace lowest test score]