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BI 452. Biology of Insects: Syllabus and Course Packet Instructor: Phil Schapker: phil.schapker@gmail.com Class Days: Monday – Thursday, 9:00 am – 1:00 pm. Overnight Field Trip: Friday, July 29 – Saturday, July 30

Course Content: This course introduces principles of insect biology with emphasis on insect diversity, life history, and behavior, especially behavior associated with communication, courtship, and social behavior. Through multiple class excursions to the field, including an overnight field trip to the H.J. Andrews Experimental Forest, students will learn valuable techniques in collecting insects and preparing museum-quality specimens for further study. By the end of the class, students will be able to identify the orders of Class Insecta and arrange them in a meaningful way according to their evolutionary relationships, and have familiarity with over 50 families of insects that are key players in a wide variety of disciplines from ecology and pest management, to theoretical biology. Students will also learn methods of observing behavior, practiced on live insects kept in the classroom. Finally, students will develop skills in writing and presenting through an independent research project. Learning resources:

1. Book: Broadsides from the Other Orders, by Sue Hubble. Random House: New York. 1993.

ASSESMENT OF STUDENT LEARNING

Participation 25 points (5%) Daily Reading Quizzes (3 pts ea.) 50 points (10%) Major Quizzes (2 x 25pts) 50 points (10%) Insect Family Slides 25 points (5%) Terrarium-related assignments 25 points (5%) Research Paper 50 points (10%) Presentation 25 points (5%) Personal Collection 25 points (5%) Class Collection 75 points (15%) Midterm 75 points (15%) Final exam (cumulative) 75 points (15%) 500 points Grading will be as follows: A>90%, B>80%, C>70%, D>60%

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Course Schedule

Date Lecture Topic Reading

L1 Jul 18 Introductions and set-up Introduction to the insects - what is an insect? the nature of entomological knowledge External anatomy – part 1 Terrarium group assignments and Adventure

Broadsides - Introduction

L2 Jul 19 Insect Family Slides Due External anatomy – part 2 Insect head and sensory systems Genitalia The study of insect diversity and evolution “tree-thinking” exercises Insect systematics and the role of the museum Specimen mounting and identifying to order

Broadsides Chapter 1 - Order Lepidoptera Chapter 2 - Order Diptera

L3 Jul 20 Quiz 1 – External Anatomy From Dragonflies to Beetles The evolution of Wings and Metamorphosis Drawing the insect phylogeny Personal Collection Checkpoint – 10 specimens

Chapter 3 - Order Coleoptera Chapter 10 – Order Odonata Misof et al. 2014. Science. (Canvas)

L4 Jul 21 Arthropods and the earliest insects Intro to aquatic insects Class discussion: should we eliminate mosquitoes? Adventure and terrariums

Chapter 4 – Order Opiliones Chapter 8 – Order Thysanoptera Chapter 5 - Order Diptera

L5 Jul 25 Insect Communication Communication activity Speciation and species delimitation Morpho-species activity Internal anatomy - dissections

Chapter 7 - Order Hemiptera Chapter 9 – Order Orthoptera

L6 Jul 26 Quiz 2 – The Insect Orders and Phylogeny Hymenoptera diversity Video Lecture: Dr. Tom Seeley, “Honeybee Democracy” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JnnjY823e-w Personal Collection Checkpoint 2 – 15 mounted

Chapter 6 - Order Hymenoptera

L7 Jul 27 Insect defenses Identifying specimens to family Personal Collection Checkpoint 3 – 20 mounted

Chapter 12 – Diptera: Syrphidae

L8 Jul 28 Quiz 3 – Families to know before field trip Personal Collections Due – 25 species in 6 orders, - 5 identified to family.

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July 29-30 Field Trip To HJ Andrews. See Notes Below

L9 Aug 1 Midterm Database specimens for HJA collection

L10 Aug 2 Social Insects – Ants BBC Documentary – Life Inside the Colony https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8n0SkIGARuo https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lFg21x2sj-M

Social Conquest of Earth CH 12-13

L11 Aug 3 Work on projects Social Conquest of Earth CH 14-16

L12 Aug 4 Paper Due Work on projects

Social Conquest of Earth CH 17-19

L13 Aug 8 Student presentations - Insects and humans Broadsides Chapter 11 Order Lepidoptera

L14 Aug 9 Student presentations – Insect behavior Broadsides Chapter 13 Order Orthoptera

L15 Aug 10 Student presentations - Insect physiology To Be Announced

Aug 11 FINAL Exam Class Collection Due – 30 specimens mounted and ID’d to order, 20 families identified Terrarium Journals Due

IMPORTANT: Exams cannot be made up unless emergency circumstances are properly proven.

Field Trip

The Plan:

What to bring:

Tent and Sleeping Bag, Food and Water, Insect Collecting Gear, Field Notebook

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The Taxonomic Classification of Insects

Defining feature

Domain – Eukaryotes __________________________________

Kingdom - Animalia __________________________________

Phylum – Arthropoda __________________________________

Subphylum – Hexapoda __________________________________

Class - Insecta __________________________________

Order -

Family - _________-dae

Subfamily - ________-nae

Genus – Capitilized

Species - lowercase

Instructions and Grading Rubric for Insect Family Slide - 25 points possible

I am assigned the families ___________________ and ____________________

in the order ___________________.

For each family, make two PowerPoint slides including the following:

First slide:

o In large lettering at the top of the slide, list both order and

family separated by a colon like this.. Coleoptera: Buprestidae __/2.5

o One medium- to high-resolution image of a species from that family. __/2.5

Preferably something that occurs in Oregon

Image should be no smaller than half the size of the slide. __/2.5

May be as large as whole slide.

Include the species name on slide and link to source in notes. __/2.5

o How is the family identified?

List identifying features __/2.5

Include an extra picture, if necessary, to illustrate __/2.5

important features such as wing venation

o Include some measure of diversity of the genus __/2.5

ex: “450 species in 3 subfamilies wordwide.”

ex: “15 spp. worldwide, 2 spp. in NA.”

Second slide:

o 4-6 images of species from that family demonstrating diversity __/2.5

o List names of species, and photo credits in notes section __/2.5

o Use animation to make Order: Family title appear on click __/2.5

Species names should be written in italics and preceded by the

genus. Often, the last name of the author (original describer)

and year of original description accompanies the species name.

Ex: Homo sapiens Linnaeus, 1758

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Grading Rubric for Research Paper

400 level - 11 sentences as follows:

1. Introduction that explains topic with clear thesis statement.

Example: “The rapidly-evolving mitochondrial gene CO1 has gained wide appeal among insect

systematists for its potential to differentiate cryptic species; however, several conditions exist that could

violate researchers’ assumptions and make the results of mt-CO1 analysis inaccurate or misleading.”

2. First example related to 1st peer-reviewed scientific article, properly cited. “The first problem arises as a consequence of the CO1 gene typically being passed down only through the

female line, making recombination impossible and guaranteeing continuously bifurcating CO1 lineages.”

3. Extension of first example ((article is cited here, but could have been in the proceeding sentence))

“A simulation study by Irwin (2002) showed that as population sizes and average dispersal distances

decrease, it becomes increasingly likely for phylogeographic breaks to occur among matrilineal

lineages within species, even in the absence of geographic barriers to gene flow.

4. Extension of first example

“Thus, systematists only looking at CO1 might see two populations with deeply separate mt-CO1

lineages and infer a species boundary where a nuclear-coding gene would tell a different story.”

5. Second example referring to another peer-reviewed article, properly cited.

6. Extension of second example

7. Extension of second example

8. Third example referring to a third peer-reviewed article, properly cited.

9. Extension of third example

10. Extension of third example.

11. Conclusion that summarizes the paragraph.

Paragraph is followed by a section titled “Works Cited”

500 level –

Same as above, except there are 2 paragraphs, with a total of 6 articles cited.

The 1st paragraph may have an additional introductory sentence that ties both paragraphs

together.

The 11th sentence of the 1st paragraph is a transition sentence.

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Grading Rubric for Research Paper:

50 points possible

Does each paragraph have exactly 11 sentences? yes – 11 points no – 0 points

Are the sentences grammatically well-structured

with no misspellings? 1 point per sentence… ____/11

Does the first sentence portray a

clearly-defined thesis? yes – 4 points no – 0 points

Does the conclusion/transition sentence summarize

the preceding paragraph in a useful way that sets up

the reader to reflect and move on to the next idea? yes – 4 points no – 0 points

Are the papers relevant to the thesis and

discussed in a clear and meaningful way? ____/ 15

Are the papers cited properly and consistently? yes – 5 points no – 0 points

Grading Rubric for Presentation

25 points possible

Presentation follows the student’s research paper _____/ 2

Presentation does not exceed 10 minutes _____/ 5

Intro slide with presentation title and name of student _____/ 2

1-2 slides explaining any background information needed _____/ 2

1-2 slides per scientific article researched _____/ 3

Each paper is properly cited at the bottom of corresponding slide _____/ 3

Nice big pictures/diagrams – few words _____/ 2

Presenter does not read directly from slide _____/ 2

Presenter displays firm knowledge of subject and communicates effectively _____/ 4

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Personal Insect Collection Guidelines

Student draws correctly- and incorrectly-pinned specimens below:

1) Insect and labels on pin

2) Insect legs

3) Butterfly wings

Why do we put specimens in freezer until we are ready to pin?

DO NOT PIN:

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Insect Collection Grading Rubric

Personal Collection 25 points Class Collection - Specimens from H.J.

Andrews Experimental Forest

75 points

*25 species mounted properly and identified to order – 2 pts / 5 species

___/10 0-15, 16-25, 25-30, 30-40, >40 specimens mounted properly and identified to order. (Par 30.)

____/[0, 20, 25-30, 30-40, 45]

2 of those species are series of 5 specimens from the same species

___/2

Notes on intraspecific variation in series (space provided below)

___/2

6 orders – .5 pt per order ___/3

5 families ID’d – .5 pt per family ___/2.5 20 families identified ___/20

OSAC Barcodes on each specimen, affixed at base of pin

___/5

All specimens DATABASED ___/5

all specimens with locality, date, collector, and field ID # on one label

___/1 all specimens with locality, date, collector, and field book ID #

___/4

all locality data complete: ex: (USA: Eugene: UofO Campus, under bark)

___/1 all locality data complete: ex: (USA: Eugene: UofO Campus, under bark)

___/4

Identifications on separate label with “Det. by [your name], 2016”

___/1 Identifications on separate label with “Det. by [your name], 2016”

___/4

all labels cut square, without excess white space and positioned properly

___/1 all labels cut square, without excess white space and positioned properly

___/4

NEATNESS: specimens arranged neatly and spaced between 0.75-2 centimeters apart.

___/1.5 NEATNESS: specimens arranged neatly and spaced between 0.75-2 centimeters apart.

___/4

*Students must be prepared to defend whether two specimens from the same order are truly

different species.

Notes on variation among specimens of the same species:

Include Illustrations!

Series 1:

Series 2:

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In-class Illustrations:

Odonata Coleoptera

Diptera Hymenoptera

Insect Head Antennae

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Phylogeny of Insects

from Misof et al. (2014) Phylogenetics resolves the timing and pattern of insect evolution. Science 346(621): 763-767.

Mark the node representing the ancestor to the Holometabola

Mark the node representing the ancestor to the winged insects

Put parentheses around orders that lack wings

Put a circle next to orders with wings that cannot fold

Put a square next to orders with a large # of species with aquatic larvae

Put a star next to the orders with a large # of species adapted to flowering plants

Box the 5 most speciose orders

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Phylogeny Quiz Practice

Place the following on the tree to the left:

Hint: How many Holometabolous orders

are represented? Is there a clade

(monophyletic group) on the tree that has

the same number of taxa? Next, for the

whole tree, think about the evolution of

wings from simplest to most derived.

Blattodea Hymenoptera

Mantodea Coleoptera

Archaeognatha Diptera

Hemiptera Diplura

Ephemeroptera Odonata

Collembola

Hymenoptera

Lepidoptera

Place the following on the tree to the left:

Megaloptera Neuroptera

Trichoptera Diptera

Raphidoptera Mecoptera

Coleoptera Strepsiptera

Siphonaptera

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Phylogeny Quiz Practice 2 – Rotated Nodes

Place the following on the tree to the left:

Hint: How many Holometabolous orders

are represented? Is there a clade

(monophyletic group) on the tree that has

the same number of taxa? Next, for the

whole tree, think about the evolution of

wings from simplest to most derived.

Blattodea Hymenoptera

Mantodea Coleoptera

Zygentoma Diptera

Thysanoptera Diplura

Ephemeroptera Odonata

Collembola

Hymenoptera

Lepidoptera

Place the following on the tree to the left:

Megaloptera Neuroptera

Trichoptera Diptera

Raphidoptera Mecoptera

Coleoptera Strepsiptera

Siphonaptera

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List of Families to know for Final

Families to know before field trip are starred.

Hymenoptera

*Formicidae

*Apidae

*Vespidae

*Ichneumonidae

*Halictidae

*Chalcididae

Argidae

Siricidae

Diptera

*Tachinidae

*Culicidae

*Syrphidae

*Bombyliidae

*Chironomidae

*Asilidae

Ceratopogonidae

Tabanidae

Muscidae

Tipulidae

Tephritidae

Lepidoptera

*Lycaenidae

*Pieridae

*Sphyngidae

*Papillionidae

*Hesperiidae

Erebidae

Geometridae

Lymantriidae

Saturniidae

Hemiptera

*Notonectidae

*Corixidae

*Gerridae

*Cicadellidae

*Cercopidae

*Aphididae

*Pentatomidae

Lygaeidae

Reduviidae

Cimicidae

Belostomatidae

Coleoptera

*Scarabidae

*Elateridae

*Cerambycidae

*Chrysomelidae

*Carabidae

*Dytiscidae

*Staphylinidae

*Curculionidae

*Coccinellidae

Cantharidae

Buprestidae

Silphidae

Tenebrionidae

Melloidae

Gyrinidae

Lampyridae

Phengodid