Thursday, 8/29

Course Syllabus

Lecture 1: What Happened to the Dinosaurs?

Reading: The Mistaken Extinction, pp. 1-20

Prologue

Chpt 1 - The Seductive

    Allure of Dinosaurs

Chpt 2 - Earlier Extinction

    Hypotheses

No Lab

This week

Week 2

Tuesday, 9/3

Lecture 2: The Discovery of Time

Reading: pp. 21-42

Chpt 3 - Contrasting

   Volcanic & Impact

   Hypotheses

Chpt 4 - Enormous

   Eruptions, Disappearing

   Seaways

Lab 1: Introduction to Rocks

Thursday, 9/5

Lecture 3: Collecting Evidence

Multimedia CD:

   Collecting Triceratops

Week 3

Tuesday, 9/10

Lecture 4: Earth Structure & Evolution

Multimedia CD:

    Plate Tectonics

Lab 2: Sedimentary Rocks and Processes

Thursday, 9/12

Lecture 5: Sedimentation and Fossilization

Reading: pp. 43-66

Chpt 5 - Fatal Impact

Week 4

Tuesday, 9/17

Lecture 6: Uniformitarianism & the Fatal Impact

impact sites

Reading: pp. 67-74

Chpt 6 - Direct Evidence

   of Catastrophe

Lab 3:

Fossils and Fossilization

Thursday, 9/19

Exam I

Week 5

Tuesday, 9/24

Lecture 7: Evolution, Hierarchy, & Genealogy

Reading: pp. 75-90:

Chpt 7 - Patterns of

    Extinction & Survival

Multimedia CD:

    Systematics

Lab 4: Vertebrate Skeletal Anatomy

Thursday, 9/26

Lecture 8: The Vertebrate Skeleton

Reading: pp. 91-104

Chpt 8 - Our Hazy View

    of Time

Multimedia CD: Archosaur

    Anatomy

Week 6

Tuesday, 10/1

Lecture 9: Vertebrate Origins

Reading: pp. 105-124

Chpt 9 - Living

    Dinosaurs?

Lab 5:

Texas Memorial Museum

Thursday, 10/3

Lecture 10: Fish-like Vertebrates

Reading: pp. 125-140

Chpt 10 - Dinosaurs

    Challenge Evolution

Week 7 - SVP

Tuesday, 10/8

Lecture 11: Life on Land

Reading: pp. 141-168

Chpt 11 - Dinosaurs and

     the Hierarchy of Life

Lab 6:

Digital Morphology

Thursday, 10/10

Lecture 12: Archosaurs

Multimedia CD:

     Vertebrate Cladogram

     & Cladogram Quizzes

Week 8

Tuesday, 10/15

Lecture 13: The Origin of Dinosaurs

Multimedia: Dinosaur

     Cladogram, Part I

Lab 7:

Systematics

Thursday, 10/17

Exam II

Week 9

Tuesday, 10/22

Lecture 14: Ornithischian Dinosaurs

Reading: pp. 169-194

Chpt 12 - Evolutionary

     Map for Dinosaurs

Lab 8: Ornithischian Dinosaurs

Thursday, 10/24

Dinosaurs of the Gobi

Multimedia CD: Dino

     Cladogram & Dinosaur

     Drill Instructor

Week 10

Tuesday, 10/29

Lecture 15: Saurischia

Multimedia CD: Dino

     Cladogram & Dinosaur

     Drill Instructor

Lab 9:

Saurischian Dinosaurs

Thursday, 10/31

Lecture 16: Early Theropod Diversification

Multimedia CD: Dino

     Cladogram & Dinosaur

     Drill Instructor

Week 11

Tuesday, 11/5

Lecture 17: Origin of Birds

Reading: pp. 195-206

Chpt 13 - Death by

    Decree

Lab 10:

Faunal Analysis I

Thursday, 11/7

Lecture 18: Mesozoic Bird Evolution

Reading: pp. 207-228

Chpt 14 - Road to

    Jurassic Park

Week 12

Tuesday, 11/12

Lecture 19: Death by Decree

Multimedia CD: continued

     work with Dino

     Cladogram & Dinosaur

     Drill Instructor

Lab 11:

Faunal Analysis II

Thursday, 11/14

Exam III

Week 13

Tuesday, 11/19

Lecture 20: Cenozoic Dinosaur Diversification

Reading: pp. 229-244

Chpt 15 - Crossing the

     Boundary

No Lab

This week

Thursday, 11/21

Lecture 21: Origin of Mammals

Reading: pp. 245-263

Chpt 16 -

     Diversification and

     Decline

Multimedia CD:

     Vertebrate Cladogram

     - Synapsids

Week 14

Tuesday, 11/26

Lecture 22: Human Evolution - The First of Two Waves

Reading:  pp. 265-284

Chpt 17 - The Real Great Dinosaur Extinction

Lab 12: Review for Final Exam

Week 15

Tuesday, 12/4

Lecture 23: Continental Extinctions

Reading: pp. 285-296

Chpt 18 - The Third Wave

and pp. 297-301

Epilogue

No Lab

This week

Thursday, 12/5

Exam IV (comprehensive)

Final grades will be posted on December 12.