Animal Communication

Transcription

1 Animal Communication Biology 484 (3 credits) New Mexico State University, Fall 2012 Instructor: Dr. Timothy Wright Office: Foster 375 Phone: (but prefer class e through Canvas) Class Meetings: Lectures Monday, Friday, 1:30-3, Foster Hall 146 Discussion Wednesday, 1:30-2:30 Foster Hall 145 Office Hours: Tuesday 1:00-2:30 in Foster 375 or by appointment Course Overview: The biological world is full of the sights, sounds and smells of animal signals. In this course we will search for general principles underlying how animals communicate with each other and why they communicate the way they do. The course begins with an examination of the mechanisms by which animals produce and perceive signals of different sensory modalities, and how the environment effects the transmission of these signals. The second part of the course examines information transfer in signals and introduces tools from economics for deriving general predictions for evolutionary patterns of signals. The final third of the course applies these predictions to examine communication signals in several specific behavioral contexts. Our approach will be explicitly evolutionary, and we will draw from a broad range of disciplines including physics, chemistry, ecology, psychology, economic game theory, and behavioral ecology. The course is intended for advanced undergraduate or graduate students with interests in animal behavior, psychology, and evolution. Course Webpage: The course web page is available in Canvas. General course information, lecture handouts, PDF files of discussion papers and grades will be posted on this site. It is also the preferred route for ing me. Texts: The required text is Principles of Animal Communication 2 nd ed by Jack W. Bradbury and Sandra L. Vehrencamp, (Sinauer Press, 2011). It is available in the campus bookstore and directly from the publisher (at a 15% discount from list price and free shipping). The book has a companion website which is freely accessible: Some of the web topics at this website will be assigned as readings to complement the book. Please note that this book is densely packed with information. I highly recommend reading smaller amounts on a regular basis, as it is virtually impossible to absorb many chapters at one sitting. Prerequisite courses: This is an upper-level course intended for seniors, advanced juniors, and beginning graduate students. While there are no prerequisites, prior coursework in animal behavior, evolution, neuroscience, physiology or biopsychology are recommended. Page 1 of 7

2 Class Format: We will have lectures on Monday and Friday and discussions on Wednesday each week. The discussion section will devoted to student-led discussion of a research paper drawn from the current literature. Questions and general discussion are highly encouraged throughout the lectures. Powerpoint lecture notes will be posted by 5 pm on the evening prior to lectures. You are encouraged to print these out handout format in advance to aid in note taking. Be aware, however, that these outlines will not be identical to the slides presented in class; considerable information will be left out in order to encourage active note taking, independent thought and interaction during lectures. The posted lecture outlines are not a substitute for attending lecture and taking your own notes! Cell phones should be turned off during class. Conversations and text messages should be conducted outside of class time. Paper Discussion: Each discussion section will focus on one research paper chosen by the instructor from the primary literature. These papers are chosen from the current literature to complement the lecture topics for that week and are available as PDF files on the course Canvas site. Discussions will be led by students, either singly or in pairs. The goals of these weekly discussions are two-fold: first, to improve your ability to think critically, and second, to give you a sense of animal communication as an active field of scientific research. In order to meet these goals, each students must carefully read the assigned paper each week and should prepare at least two or three questions or substantive comment (positive or negative) about the assigned paper. Some questions you should ask as you read papers are: What is the paper s primary objective? Does it attempt to test a specific hypothesis? Does this hypothesis make sense in terms of what is already known about this area of animal communication? Are the methods appropriate to address the question? If the methods are observational, are they free from bias? If experimental, are they properly designed and controlled? How are the data analyzed? What are the main results, and how do the authors interpret them? Do the conclusions follow logically form the data? Do the data support their hypotheses? Have they considered alternative explanations? How do these results compare with previous work in the area? Do they advance our understanding of this field of research? What further work might be interesting to conduct given these results? If you are prepared for discussion and share your thoughts and comments on these areascomments with the class at sn appropriate point in the discussion then you will receive full points for partiipating in discussion that day. If you have clearly not read the paper or are not prepared for the discussion you will not receive full participation points. When it is your turn to lead, you will be responsible for presenting a brief (5-8 minute) summary of the paper that gives some background information on the study system and questions addressed in the paper. You will then be responsible for leading a general discussion of the methods, results and conclusions of the paper. Here your job is not only to understand the research, but also to pick out its strengths and weakness and evaluate its importance in the field. To do this you will need to draw on what you have learned in the class and avoid the pitfall of being intimidated by statistics and scientific jargon. You MUST avoid lecturing to the class for the entire discussion period, as the Page 2 of 7

3 goal is to have an inclusive discussion in which everyone has a chance to participate. The liveliest discussion result when the presenter is prepared with a list of questions for the class that either help it work through the paper systematically or help it to identify major weaknesses or strengths. I will be available during office hours or by appointment to help presenters prepare when it is their turn to lead; I highly encourage presenters to make use of this opportunity to make sure you understand the paper before presenting. Your performance in discussion sections will be worth 150 points towards your final grade (100 points for overall participation, 50 points for leading the discussion). Group Acoustic Analysis Project: Students will conduct lab research projects on topics in acoustic communication. We are focusing on acoustic communication because the recording and analysis tools are readily available as cheap and userfriendly software. Projects will be conducted collaboratively in small groups. Each group will be responsible for designing a study of scientific interest, collecting an appropriate sample of signals, measuring appropriate feature of the signals, and analyzing the results statistically. Groups can record the signals themselves, or use sets that I provide. We will also have two tutorials related to these projects during lecture periods. These tutorials will provide a hands-on introduction to i) sound analysis methods and ii) data analysis and presentation. Three parts of the project will be graded. The first is the project proposal, a short (3-5 page) paper that describes the scientific context of the study, the species and type of signals to be examined, the scientific question of interest, and how the data will be collected and analyzed. It should include references for 10 relevant papers from the primary literature. Group members should submit a single paper, which will receive a single score for all members of the group. The second part of the group project is the preparation and presentation of a research poster describing the study. Group members will be responsible for public presentation of the poster at a research symposium on 12/5. The third part of the project is overall participation in the group effort. Individual grades for participation will be determined by the instructor with feedback on effort levels provided by other group members. Research projects will be worth 300 points towards your final grade (125 points for the project proposal, 125 points for the poster presentation, and 50 points for participation and contribution towards the group's effort). Exams: There will be two midterm exams and a final. Midterm exams will be given during the class periods on 9/28 and 11/2. Midterms will each be worth 150 points. The final exam will be given during exam week. Half the final exam will cover class material since the last midterm and half will cover material from the entire course (i.e. will be cumulative and comprehensive). The final will be worth 250 points. Exam format will be short essay questions and will include problem-solving and discussion. They will cover material presented in lectures, the textbook and the discussion papers, and any other sources designated by the instructor. Exams will be designed to encourage integration of information from these sources. I will provide a list of potential exam questions prior to the exam; the actual exam questions will be drawn from this list, subject to some modification. Group study is encouraged, but all Page 3 of 7

4 answers given on exams must be in your own words and no written materials are allowed in the exam room. Students who will miss an exam on documented university business must provide the written documentation to Dr. Wright two weeks in advance of the exam and must make arrangements with him to take the exam early (i.e. before leaving on university business). Failure to follow this procedure will result in the student obtaining a zero for that exam. If a serious and unavoidable medical or family emergency causes you to miss an exam you must provide verifiable written documentation of the emergency to the instructor. If this documentation is judged acceptable than you may make arrangements to take a make-up final. If you do not take the final and do not contact me, or your reason for missing the exam is not judged to be both serious and unavoidable, you will receive a zero for the exam and your course grade will be calculated accordingly. Academic Honor: Academic honesty is a fundamental expectation of your participation in this course and your academic life at New Mexico State University. Academic misconduct will not be tolerated in this class and any cases of academic misconduct will be prosecuted fully following NMSU procedures. The student code of conduct outlines many of these expectations, and may be found at ( The student code of conduct outlines various forms of academic misconduct in section III.B. Cheating includes, but is not limited to possession and/or use of unauthorized materials during exams; copying the work of another (e.g. another student, instructor or other reference source); using the words or ideas of another (e.g. another student, instructor or other reference source), especially without proper acknowledgement and citation (but keep in mind that citing a source DOES NOT allow you to use their words and/or organization and/or structure if these are copied directly or substantially copied); providing another student the opportunity to copy your work on exams or assignment, looking at the work of another student during exams and quizzes and providing another student the opportunity to earn participation points when they are not in class to earn them themselves. Students must be especially careful to avoid plagiarism, particularly when writing research proposals and project posters. Plagiarism is defined as the presentation of others ideas as your own, whether intentional or not. Any ideas or materials taken from another source must be fully acknowledged. Not only must you credit your source(s) for any ideas that are not your own, but you MUST paraphrase in YOUR OWN WORDS, or use quotation marks to indicate a direct quotation. If you submit an assignment in which you have merely changed a few words from a source, or have retained the structure and organization of your source, then you have submitted a plagiarized assignment, even if you have cited that source. Any act of plagiarism will result in a MINIMUM of a zero for that assignment, and more severe penalties (including failure of the course) may be imposed at the discretion of the instructor. Group projects are a partial exception to these policies on plagiarism, in that a single project proposal and a single poster will be produced by each group, and these products wil represent the joint effort of the entire group. Nontheless, plagiarism of other Page 4 of 7

5 sources must be strenuously avoided in these assignments, and any incidents of plagiarism will result in a grade of zero on that assignment for the entire group. Withdrawals: It is the responsibility of the student to administratively withdraw from the class should you decide to do so. The deadline to drop with W is 10/16. Attendance: Lecture attendance is expected except for documented university business or extreme emergencies, and regular participation will greatly improve your success in the course. You will be graded on your active participation in discussion sections as detailed above. Grading Summary: The final grade will be determined by the points accumulated on each part of the course. The different parts are valued as follows: Discussions 150 (100 for participation, 50 for leading) Midterm Exams 300 (2 exams, 150 points each) Final Exam 250 Project Proposal 125 Project Presentation 125 Project Participation 50 Total 1000 I will assign grades for points earned during the class according to the following scale: A B C D F 900 and above points, points points 599 and below Disabilities and Accommodations: Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 and the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) covers issues relating to disability and accommodations. If a you have questions or needs an accommodation in the classroom (all medical information is treated confidentially), contact: Trudy Luken, Student Accessibility Services (SAS) - Corbett Center, Rm. 244; Phone: ; sas@nmsu.edu; Website: NMSU policy prohibits discrimination on the basis of age, ancestry, color, disability, gender identity, genetic information, national origin, race, religion, retaliation, serious medical condition, sex, sexual orientation, spousal affiliation and protected veterans status.furthermore, Title IX prohibits sex discrimination to include sexual misconduct, sexual violence, sexual harassment and retaliation. For more information on discrimination issues, Title IX or NMSU's complaint process contact: Gerard Nevarez or Agustin Diaz, Office of Institutional Equity (OIE) - O'Loughlin House; Phone: ; equity@nmsu.edu; Website: Page 5 of 7

6 Lecture Schedule (subject to revision by instructor) Date Day Lecture or Discussion Topic Page 6 of 7 Textbook Chap or Web Topic Part 1: Signal Form 8/24 F 1 What is animal communication? 1 8/27 M 2 Acoustic signals I: Properties of sound 2 (pp19-33), web 2.2* 8/29 W T1 Tutorial: Sound measurement and analysis Raven manual (pp 1-13), web 2.3, 2.4 8/31 F 3 Acoustic signals II: Sound production 2 (pp 33-63), web 2.6*, 2.7* 9/3 M No Class, Labor Day holiday 9/5 W D1 Deb et al Females of a tree cricket prefer larger males but not the lower frequency male calls that indicate large body size. Anim. Behav. 84: /7 F 4 Acoustic signals III: Sound transmission 3 (pp 65-83), web 3.3 9/10 M 5 Acoustic signals IV: Sound reception 3 (pp ) web 3.6* 9/12 W D2 Prather et al Sensory constraints on birdsong syntax: neural responses to swamp sparrow songs with accelerated trill rates. Anim. Behav. 83: /14 F 6 Visual signals I: Light properties and visual 4, web 4.4* signal production 9/17 M 7 Visual signals II: Visual signal propagation and 5 reception 9/19 W D3 Williams et al Colourful characters: head colour reflects personality in a social bird, the Gouldian finch, Erythrura gouldiae. Anim. Behav. 84: /21 F 8 Chemical signals 6, web 6.1, 6.3* 9/24 M 9 Short-range modalities: touch, 7, web 7.4* electroreception 9/26 W Group meetings with Dr. Wright for discussion of projects plans 9/28 F Midterm 1: Lecs 1-8 and Disc 1-3 Part 2: Information and Signal Design 10/1 M 10 Information and decision making 8 (pp ). web /3 W D4 Schlechter-Helas et al Learning individual signatures: rove beetle males discriminate unreceptive females by cuticular hydrocarbon patterns. Anim. Behav. 84: /5 F 11 Signal repertoires 8 ( ) 10/8 M 12 Economics: optimality models and currency 9 ( ) 10/10 W D5 Kasurak et al Reproductive status influences multisensory

7 integration responses in female round gobies, Neogobius melanostomus. Anim. Behav. 83: /12 F No class, work on project proposals 10/15 M No class, work on project proposals 10/17 W D6 Hesse et al Kin recognition by phenotype matching is familyrather than self-referential in juvenile cichlid fish. Anim. Behav. 84: /19 F 13 Economics: optimal signaling 9 ( ) Project proposals due in class 10/22 M 14 Signal evolution 10 ( ), web 10.3* 10/24 W D7 Cardoso et al Birdsong, sexual selection, and the flawed taxonomy of canaries, goldfinches and allies. Anim. Behav. 84: /26 F 15 Signal honesty and game theory 10 ( ), web 10.6 Part 3: Signal Function 10/29 M 16 Conflict resultion 11 10/31 W D8 Gavassa et al Signal modulation as a mechanism for handicap disposal. Anim. Behav. 83: /2 F Midterm 2: Lecs 9-16 and Disc /5 M 17 Mate attraction and courtship 12, web 12.2* 11/7 W D9 Gibson & Uetz, Effect of rearing environment and food availability on seismic signalling in male wolf spiders (Araneae: Lycosidae). Anim. Behav. 84: /9 F No class, work on project analysis 11/12 M 18 Social integration 13, web 13.2* 11/14 W D10 Briefer et al Social effects on vocal ontogeny in an ungulate, the goat, Capra hircus. Anim. Behav. 83: /16 F T2 Tutorial: Data analysis and statistics 11/ 19- No classes, Thanksgiving holiday 23 11/26 M 19 Environmental signals 14, web /28 W D11 Cäsar et al Evidence for semantic communication in titi monkey alarm calls Anim.Behav. 84: /30 F Group meetings with Dr. Wright for discussion of project posters (bring draft posters) 12/3 M 20 Communication networks 15 12/5 W Research symposium: project posters due 12/7 F 21 Human language and communication 16, pp , web /10 M Final Exam: 1:00-3:00 in Foster Hall % Lecs and Disc 8-11, and 50% cumulative over entire course *These web topics provided as illustrations of various behaviors, are not required reading. Page 7 of 7