Invertebrate Lab Syllabus

Invertebrate Zoology Lab Part II: the lower invertebrates to platyhelminthes and Part III: annelids through protochordates. M 2:00-6:00 NOTE THAT SOME EXPERIMENTS MAY REQUIRE STUDENTS TO OBSERVE ORGANISMS OUTSIDE OF REGULARLY SCHEDULED CLASS TIME. ANIMALS WORK ON THEIR TIME, NOT OURS. Where possible, such outside observations will be kept to a minimum.

Office Hours 9:30-11:00 T, others by appointment only. Please contact me by phone 359-4377 or email gilchris@virtu.sar.usf.edu if you cannot attend regularly scheduled office hours. Text for lab: The Invertebrates: Function and Form by Sherman and Sherman and supplementally The Beachcomber’s Guide to Gulf Coast Marine Life by Fotheringham and Brunenmeister.

The lab is designed to complement the information from the invertebrate zoology lecture. However, the two are independent courses and may not be in exact synchrony. Students not taking the lecture can take the lab, but those in lecture will be given preference. The exercises in the lab allow students to explore not only the form of the organisms through observation of live and preserved materials, but also how the organisms fit into their habitats through field and lab observations/experiments. Students will be evaluated on lab notebooks containing results of experiments and observations. Students may choose one exercise each module from which to construct a formal lab report containing complete methodology, discussion, and bibliography. Additionally, each pair of students will present an insect collection containing representatives of 25 families. This can be either a live collection or a preserved one. Those wishing to do a live collection must have permission of the instructor due to space limitations in the lab. Students should view the instructor as a technician, available for assisting in projects, but not directing them. Each student should have a bucket, trowel, safety goggles, dissecting kit, gardening gloves, and latex gloves for the first class. Shoes (with closed toes) and shirts must be worn in the lab. The first formal lab report should be given to the instructor by 5 pm on Monday of Fall break. The completed lab notebook is due on the Monday of exam week by 5 pm EST. NO LATE WORK WILL BE ACCEPTED FOR EVALUATION. An asterisk beside the week number indicates field work…be prepared.