DEPARTMENT OF EARTH AND ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES
EESC 1010
Class Number 47600: MZ2A
Class Number:47603: MZ2B
THE DYNAMIC EARTH: CRISES IN THE HISTORY OF LIFE
COURSE OUTLINE
Spring 2014
Prof. J.A. Chamberlain, Jr.
Office: 5312N
Phone: 718-951-5000 x 2885
email:
Lecture Instructor: Prof. John Chamberlain
Office hours: by appointment only
Lecture: Monday; 2:15PM - 3:55PM, rm 3127N
Lab Instructor:
MZ2A: Prof. D. Seidemann. Lab meets every 2nd week, rm 4153N; 1st lab meeting – Jan. 29.
MZ2B: Prof. D. Seidemann. Lab meets every 2nd week, rm 4153N; 1st lab meeting - Feb. 5.
CUNY Pathways: EESC 1010 is a 3 credit, lecture/lab format course that is part of the general education requirements of Brooklyn College and the City University of New York. EESC 1010 satisfies the Scientific Inquiry requirement of the University and College Pathways Curriculum.
Course Description - Our sections of EESC 1010 will deal with the evolution of the Earth and the evolution of Life. We will focus on watershed events in earth history that have controlled the development of life on Earth, and have produced the modern biosphere, i.e., life as we know it today. Our approach will be to examine a few such critical events, e.g., the mass extinction 65 million years ago that wiped out non-avian dinosaurs and set the stage for the expansion of modern mammals like us. Our aim will be to see what these events say about the nature of organisms, both modern and ancient, about their reliance on the physical aspects of the world, and on each other. When we are finished with the course, you will have an understanding of how life has unfolded on Earth over geologic time and of the processes that have directed this unfolding. And, you will gain a sense of what is likely to happen as the world continues into the future. Not the least of our aims will be to gain perspective on our place in the natural world.
Course Work: The work involved in this course includes the following:
1) Lecture: slide-illustrated presentations; two exams described below
2) Lab: weekly lab exercises; field trips, lab exams , and other work as determined by your lab instructor. Lab work and requirements will be discussed by your lab instructor during the first lab.
Course Resources:The lecture component of the course is supported by severalstudy tools.
1) Paleocore website:I have assembled a website that contains all of the slides used during class to illustrate and highlight the lectures. It contains in picture form all the basic information that we deal with in class. If used diligently, it will be a valuable asset in taking informative notes during class, and it
will be very helpful in studying for exams. Access data for this website are as follows:
URL:
Username: paleocore
Password: dinosaur
2) Textbook:No textbook is required for this course. However, if you feel more comfortable having a textbook on which to rely, I recommend the book listed below. I have used it as a text in this course in past semesters but because it is expensive (about $200 at the College bookstore) and because previous student surveys have revealed that most people enrolled in the course found the Paleocore website to be much more helpful than the book, I no longer require it. The book covers the subjects we will focus on during the semester, and complements the material discussed in class.
Historical Geology; 7th edition; 2013. R. Wicander & J.S. Monroe, Brooks/ColePubl., Cengage Learning. ISBN: 978-1-111-98729-9
Because it is not required, I have not ordered the book for the College Bookstore. If you are interested in obtaining a copy, you may do so via the Barnes & Noble or Amazon.com websites, and probably other websites as well. You may be able to obtain a new or used copy, or an earlier edition, that will be much cheaper than the $200 Bookstore price. I saw a used copy of a 5th edition for $6.50 on Amazon. An earlier edition is fine, although the page numbers given below for recommended reading are for the 7th edition, and may not apply to earlier editions. Barnes & Noble has the 7th ed for $166, and a rental for $66. The web addresses are as follows.
Barnes & Nobel: Amazon.com:
If you decide to get a this book, I would encourage you to obtain a copy as cheaply as possible. Also, I placed a copy of the 5th edition on reserve in the College Library.
3) Additional Reference Books: You might want to consider the idea of obtaining other books to use as reference material during the semester. If so, I highly recommend the following:
The History of Life; 5th edition; 2013. Richard Cowen, Wiley Publ., ISBN: 978-0-470-67172-6
This book is an unsurpassed introduction to many aspects of the history of life, but it does not cover basic geology and geologic time very well, i.e., it is not written as an introductory text. However, it is a highly readable treatment of all of the historical issues that we deal with during the semester, so finding a copy for yourself online or from some other source should prove highly beneficial.
4) Useful Web Sites: There are several web sites in addition to the course website that you might find helpful. Among these are:
This is a website assembled by the author of the History of Life. It complements the book, and contains slide shows high-lighting the content of the book.
This is the website of my department. It introduces the Earth & Environmental Sciences Department, describes the earth sciences, and contains links to Core course material, particularly for the labs, as well as other links, that you might find valuable.
There are many other web sites that might prove valuable to you. But keep in mind that any blockhead can put up a web site; and that most web sites dealing with matters of evolution, earth history, extinction, and related issues are in fact the creations of blockheads. They contain mostly erroneous mis-information and wishful thinking, often neatly packaged, but still off the mark and misleading. It is often not easy to spot such web sites, so be careful if you decide to surf the web for info relating to topics we talk about in class. Be especially diligent if you decide to use the internet as a resource in studying for exams. I reject outright the explanation, “but I found it on the internet”, as a valid argument when you ask me why I gave you a 0 for your incorrect answer to a test question. You will still get a 0. If you insist on using websites for study and test preparation, your first and only web site choices should be those that are clearly associated with a reputable university or museum. But even here one needs to be wary. In cases where there is uncertainty about the reputability of a web site, I will be the judge.
Grading: Your grade for this course will be determined from your performance in the lecture and lab components of the course. The lecture will comprise two-thirds of your grade and the lab is one-third.
Lecture Grade: Your lecture grade will consist of the results you receive on two lecture exams plus an effort/deportment component as described below. The lecture tests will consist of short answer questions covering material discussed in the lecture and contained in the course website. The first exam will be given during the middle of the semester. The second exam will be given during finals week in May. The two tests will be weighted equally in calculating a grade for the lecture portion of the course.
Lab Grade: Your lab grade is determined by your lab instructor. I have nothing to do with it. Your lab instructor will report your lab grade to me, and I will average it in with your two lecture exam grades as described above.
Extra Credit Work: There will be NO OPPORTUNITY FOR MAKE-UP OR EXTRA CREDIT WORK in the lecture part of the course. So don’t ask. Make sure that you take the two exams when they are offered and that you do well on them.
Attendance: CUNY regulations require that student attendance records be kept. I expect that all students will attend class regularly, and arrive for each class meeting in a timely fashion.
Effort & Deportment: You are encouraged to ask questions and raise issues for class discussion. Also, I expect all students in this class to act in a civil fashion during class time. This means a respectful silence during the lecture itself, i.e., no talking to friends, no eating or drinking, no reading books, newspapers, etc., and NO ELECTRONIC DEVICES. Any electronic devices you have with you must be turned off and put away before the class begins. Up to 10% of your grade depends on compliance with these points. I will apply this component positively or negatively as appropriate.
Archaeopteryx
Solnhofen Limestone
Eichstätt, Germany,
Middle Jurassic
Syllabus of Lecture Subjects and Recommended Readings:
The following is a list of topics covered in the lecture portion of the course. The reading indicated in the list below refers to chapters and pages from Wicander & Monroe, 7th ed.
WEEKS 1 & 2: Earth Materials
A. Minerals (page 18-22)
B. Rocks (page 22-35)
C. Fossils & Fossilization (page 89-91)
WEEKS 3 & 4: Earth Processes
A. Geologic Time (chapter 4, page 92-95)
B. Plate Tectonics (chapter 3)
C. Evolution (chapter 7) Middle Jurassic
D. Extinction & Radiation (page 141-142, 247-249, 316-317)
WEEK 5: Crisis #1: Origin of Earth & Life (page 4-9,150-153,159-166)
A. Origin of the Earth and Solar System
B. Origin of the atmosphere and ocean
C. Early Earth Environments
D. Origin of Life
E. The Oxygen Revolution
WEEK 6: Crisis #2: Snowball Earth & the Origin of Animals (page 178-189)
A. Pre-animal biology and environments - what made animal life possible
B. Snowball Earth
C. Ediacara Fauna - the first animals
D. How did the appearance of animals change the biosphere
WEEK 7: Midterm Exam
WEEKS 8 & 9: Crisis #3: Cambrian Radiation(page 233-243)
Part 1: Modernization of the Biosphere
A. What is the Cambrian Radiation
B. Importance of the Cambrian Radiation
C. Causes of the Cambrian Radiation
D. Effects on the biosphere
Part 2: A Trip to the Burgess Shale
A. Field, British Columbia
B. Walcott’s quarry
C. The “weird” Burgess animals
D. Lifestyles of the Burgess animals
Juvenile Tyrannosaurus
WEEK 10: Crisis #4: Animals Invade the Land (chapter 13) Hell Creek Formation
A. Origin of Land Plants and Animals Faith, South Dakota
B. Origin of Forests and Land Vertebrates Late Cretaceous
C. Adaptive Solutions for Life on Land
WEEK 11: Crisis #5: Vertebrate Final Solution (chapter 13)
A. What group of vertebrates made the transition to land lifestyles
B. Were the first land dwelling vertebrates fully terrestrial
C. What was the vertebrate “Ultimate Solution” to life on land
WEEKS 12 & 13: Crisis #6: Mammals, Dinosaurs, and the K/T Mass Extinction (chapter 15)
Part 1: The Mesozoic World
A. Climate
B. Geography
Part 2: Mesozoic Animals
A. Mammals
B. Dinosaurs
C. Mammal-Dinosaur Interactions
Part 3: The Cretaceous-Tertiary Mass Extinction
A. Cause & kill mechanism
B. Effects on Biosphere
C. Mass Extinction & Contingency in Evolution
WEEK 14: Crisis #7: Human Origins (chapter 19)
A. Cenozoic climate change
B. Climate induced change in plant ecosystems
C. Recovery from the K/T Mass Extinction
D. Primates: Prosimians & Anthropoids
E. Hominid Evolution
F. Humans
1. Homo habilis
2. Homo erectus
3. Homo heidelbergensis
4. Homo neanderthalensis
5. Homo sapiens (us)
FINALS WEEK: Endterm Exam
Anomalocaris
Burgess Shale
Field, British Columbia
Middle Cambrian