Syllabus for ENTM 7970/8970 – Special Topics in Insect Behavior and Chemical Ecology

Fall 2006 (3 credit hours)

Instructor: Henry Fadamiro

346 Funchess Hall; 334-844-5098 (office)

fadamhy@auburn.edu

Schedule (tentative): Fridays 3-5 pm

Location: Funchess Hall Room 355 (Entomology Museum)

Office Hours:  After class and by appointment.

Required Reading: Articles from the literature are assigned weekly and passed out in class.

Supplementary Reading: Articles available from the instructor.

TENTATIVE COURSE OUTLINE

I. Introduction to ethology/insect behavior

A. Introduction

B. Niko Tinbergen's four questions

C. Anthropomorphism and teleology

D. Programming and integration of behavior – Nervous/hormonal coordinating mechanisms

E. Memory and learning

F. Ethogram

II. Movement

A. Locomotion and orientation

B. Insect flight: dispersal and migration

C. Flight energetics and cost of migration

III. Feeding behavior

A. Food location and feeding types

B. Regulation of feeding

IV. Mating and reproduction

A. Mating systems

B. Courtship and copulation

C. Oviposition

Midterm test

V. Introduction to chemical ecology

A. Overview of chemical ecology

B. Semiochemical types: pheromones and allelochemicals

VI. Techniques in chemical ecology research

A. Electrophysiological techniques

B. Analytical techniques

C. Behavioral techniques

VII. Semiochemical-mediated host location

A. Plant chemicals – primary and secondary compounds

A. Insect-plant interactions

B. Tritrophic interactions (including predator/parasitoid host location strategies)

D. Communication in social insects

E. Coevolution of herbivores and plant allelochemicals

VIII. Pheromone-mediated behavior

A. Sex pheromones

B. Aggregration pheromones

C. Pheromones of social insects

D. Mechanisms of orientation to odor

IX. The chemoreceptive organs

A. The sensory neuron/associated cells

B. Systematics of sensilla

C. Circuitry of the sensillum/peripheral coding

D. Processing by the CNS/antennal lobe

X. Introduction to molecular chemical ecology

Grading Criteria:

Ethogram (10% of grade). Construct an ethogram (a catalog of observed behaviors) of any insect of your choice (could be your research insect). Behavior must be observed for at least one hour. Details to be discussed in class. Due on September 29, 2006.

Midterm exam (30% of grade)

Friday October 6, 2006. 3-5 pm. This exam will include all material from August 18 through September 29, 2006.

Research paper/presentation (30% of grade)

Research/review article/presentation due on November 10, 2006. Review article must be on a research topic of current interest in insect behavior and chemical ecology. Article may be related to student’s dissertation.

An abstract is due on October 13, 2006. Abstract should have ~250 words and summarize the topic (typed and double-spaced).

Review article should be a maximum of 10 pages (double-spaced) including tables, figures, and references. It should be typed in Word. A hard copy and an electronic copy of the article are due on November 10, 2006. Use scientific format: Title, Author and Affliation, Abstract, Introduction, Discussion (preferable in subsections), and References.

Powerpoint presentation of article is on November 17, 2006. Each presentation is for 10 minutes plus 5 minutes of questions and answers. Note that presentation will be graded and constitute 30% of the research paper/presentation grade.

Final exam (30% of grade)

December 8, 2006*. 3-5 pm. This exam will include all material after midterm through end of class. (Date may be re-scheduled if necessary). Note that ESA meeting is on December 10-13, 2006.