Schedule for Fall 2011
Date Lecture Assignments
Week 1

Thursday, 8/25

Course Syllabus

Lecture 1: What Happened to the Dinosaurs?

Reading: The Mistaken Extinction, pp. 1-20

Prologue

 

Chapter 01 - the Seductive Allure of Dinosaurs

 

Chapter 02 - Earlier Extinction Hypotheses

 

Week 2

Tuesday, 8/30

Lecture 2: The Discovery of Time

Reading: pp. 21-42

Chapter 03 - Contrasting Volcanic and Impact Hypotheses

 

Chapter 04 - Enormous Eruptions, Disappearing Seaways

 

assignment: geological time scale - p. 5

Thursday, 9/01

Lecture 3: Collecting Evidence

Multimedia CD:

   Collecting Triceratops

 

Week 3

 

Tuesday, 9/06

Lecture 4: Earth Structure & Evolution

Multimedia CD:

    Plate Tectonics

Thursday, 9/08

Lecture 5: Sedimentation and Fossilization

Reading: pp. 43-66

Chapter 05 -  Fatal Impact

 

Week 4

 

Tuesday, 9/13

Lecture 6: Uniformitarianism & the Fatal Impact

impact sites

The Chicxulub Debate

Asteriod Hypothesis 2010

Multiple Causes 2010

 

Reading: pp. 67-74

Chapter 06 - the Search for the Smoking Gun

 

Thursday, 9/15

Exam I

Week 5

 

Tuesday, 9/20

Lecture 7: Evolution, Hierarchy, & Genealogy

Reading: pp. 75-90:

Chapter 07 - Patterns of Survival and Extinction

 

Multimedia CD:

Systematics

 

Thursday, 9/22

Lecture 8: The Vertebrate Skeleton

Reading: pp. 91-104

Chapter 08 - Our Hazy View of Time at the K/T Boundary

 

Multimedia CD: Archosaur

    Anatomy

 

Week 6

 

Tuesday, 9/27

Lecture 9: Vertebrate Origins

Reading: pp. 105-124

Chapter 9 - Living Dinosaurs?

Thursday, 9/29

Lecture 10: Fish-like Vertebrates

Reading: pp. 125-140

Chapter 10 - Dinosaurs Challenge Evolution

Week 7

 

Tuesday, 10/04

Lecture 11: Life on Land

Reading: pp. 141-168

Chapter 11- Dinosaurs and the Hierarchy of Life

Thursday, 10/06

Lecture 12: Early Reptiles

Multimedia CD:

     Vertebrate Cladogram

     & Cladogram Quizzes

Week 8

 

Tuesday, 10/11

 

Lecture 13: The Archosaur Revolution  and the Origin of Dinosaurs

Multimedia: Dinosaur

     Cladogram, Part I

Reading: pp. 169-194

Chapter 12- The Evolutionary Map for Dinosaurs

Thursday, 10/13

Exam II

Week 9

 

Tuesday, 10/18

 

Lecture 14: Dinosaur Diversity: an Introduction to Ornithischia

http://www.lib.utexas.edu/books/nzbirds/

Multimedia CD: Dino

     Cladogram

Reading: pp. 169-194

Chapter 12- The Evolutionary Map for Dinosaurs (continued)

 

Thursday, 10/20


Lecture 15: Dinosaur Diversity:   Ornithischia II
http://www.lib.utexas.edu/books/britfossils/pdfs/txu-oclc-13370987-1-206.pdf

Week 10

Tuesday, 10/25


Lecture 16: Dinosaur Diversity: Saurischia  I, the Sauropodomorphs

 

Multimedia CD: Dino

     Cladogram & Dinosaur

     Drill Instructor

Reading: pp. 169-194

Chapter 12- The Evolutionary Map for Dinosaurs (continued)

 

Thursday, 10/27

 

Lecture 17: Dinosaur Diversity: Saurischia II, the Theropods

 

Reading: pp. 195-206

Chapter 13 - Death by Decree

Week 11

Tuesday, 11/01

Lecture 18: Feathered Dinosaurs

 

Reading: pp. 207-228

Chapter 14 - The Road to Jurassic Park

Thursday, 11/03

To Be Scheduled

 

Reading: pp. 207-228

Chapter 14 - The Road to Jurassic Park

(continued)

 

Week 12

Tuesday, 11/08

Lecture 19: The Origin of Birds

 

Reading: pp. 207-228

Chapter 14 - The Road to Jurassic Park

(continued)

 

 

Thursday, 11/10

Exam III

Week 13

Tuesday, 11/15

Lecture 20: Patterns of Dinosaur Diversification and Decline

Reading: pp. 229-244

Chapter 15 - Crossing the Boundary

 

Thursday, 11/17

Lecture 21: Human Evolution and The Real Great Dinosaur Extinction

 

Reading: pp. 245-263

Chapter 16 - Diversification and Decline

 

Week 14

Tuesday, 11/22

No Lecture

 

Reading:  pp. 265-284

Chapter 17 - The Real Great Dinosaur Extinction

Thursday, 11/24 Thanksgiving Holiday

 

Week 15

Tuesday, 11/29

Lecture 23: Course Summary

 

Reading: pp. 285-296

Chapter 18 - The Third Wave

 

and pp. 297-301

Epilogue

 

 

Thursday, 12/01

Exam IV (comprehensive)