Tropical Animal Behavior
Dr. David Holtzman
July 20-August 14, 2000
Ethology is the study of naturally occurring behavior. In this course, we will
examine the rich diversity of animal behavior on the tropical island of Ometepe
in Lake Nicaragua. Lectures will cover spatial and foraging ecology,
communication, reproductive strategies, and conservation. Both invertebrate and
vertebrate species will be used to demonstrate examples of material covered in
lectures and to teach ethological methodology. Students
will learn how
to form testable hypotheses for field biology and learn different ways of
observing, quantifying, and analyzing behavior. This course is intended for
advanced undergraduates or beginning graduate students.
Lecture Topics
Ethological approaches and methods
Neural basis of behavior
Orientation,
migration and navigation
Spatial learning and memory
Communication
Feeding
Habitat selection
Social behavior
Conservation
Required Text
There is one required text for this course:
Lehner, P. N. (1996) Handbook of Ethological Methods. 2nd edition. Cambridge
University Press, Cambridge, UK (ISBN 0-521-63750-3 paperback).
This text can be ordered from your local college bookstore. Please be advised
that it may take several weeks for the books to be received. Do not wait until
the last minute to order. Please familiarize yourself with the material in this
book before you leave for Nicaragua.
Additional Reading
Each student will be responsible for bringing 5 articles relevant to the topics
covered in lecture. These articles should concern tropical species and have to be
approved by Dr. Holtzman by June 15th, 2000. Each student will be responsible for
"presenting" articles to the class. The number of presentations will be dependent
on the number of students enrolled. Presentations will involve a houghtful
discourse of the hypotheses being asked, the methods used to address those
hypotheses, the results of observations or experiments, and the interpretation
of those results. In addition, other articles and reference materials will be
available to students for preparation of their research reports.
Daily Excursions
The instructors (Dr. Holtzman and graduate teaching assistants) will lead daily
trips into the field. Students will be expected to be physically fit and be able
to hike continuously for several hours in a day. An overnight excursion will be
planned to a cloud forest and crater lake at the top of one of the two volcanoes
on Ometepe. These field excursions are intended to demonstrate the complex
interactions between animals and their natural environment. Students will learn
how to sample different species through the use of standard methods (for example,
seining for fish, use of Sherman traps for small mammals, and mist-netting for
bats and birds), and methods of ethological observation will also be taught.
A list of necessary equipment and field gear can be found through the La Suerte
Field website
(http://www.studyabroad.com/lasuerte/addinfo.html#equip).
Please be advised that this site lists equipment and materials that are NOT
needed for Ometepe. A headlamp and extra batteries are necessary to facilitate
hikes after dark. Students should also have a pair of hiking boots (already
broken in) and tennis shoes. Because we will be exploring different habitats
ranging from lakeshore to tropical lowland forest to mountainous, cloud forest,
students should bring appropriate clothing for a variety of environments.
Independent Projects
Each student will form and test a hypothesis about a local species during the
last two weeks of the course. The choice of subject species will be left to the
student but should be selected from experiences with that species during daily
excursions. Each project must also be approved by Dr. Holtzman. The instructors
of the course will be available to help guide students design plausible projects,
as well as help with the analysis of data collected. Each student will be
responsible for writing a 7-10 page research report and presenting their results
to the class on the last day of the course.
Pictures from Summer 1999
Further information about this course is available by contacting:
Dr. David Holtzman
Department of Brain and Cognitive Sciences
Meliora Hall
University of Rochester
Rochester NY 14627
Phone: 716-273-4561
FAX: 716-442-9216
E-mail: holtzman@bcs.rochester.edu
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