GEL 12 : The Evolution & Paleobiology of Dinosaurs
Winter Quarter 2008:
Tuesday and Thursday, 11:00 PM - 11:50 AM
1001 Giedt Hall
Credit: 2 units Prerequisites: none Grading: letter grade
Instructor: Sandy Carlson
e-mail: carlson@geology.ucdavis.edu
telephone: 530-752-2834
Office hours: Tuesday & Thursday: 9:45-10:45 am, or by appointment
Room 290 Physics/Geology Bldg
Required Text: The Evolution and Extinction of the Dinosaurs
by D.E. Fastovsky and D.B. Weishampel, 2nd Edition, 2005, Cambridge
University Press, Cambridge. 485 pp.
Requirements: One midterm exam (45%) and a final, cumulative exam (55%).
Course Syllabus
Short summaries of lectures will be available here after each lecture.
| DATE | LECTURE | READINGS |
|---|---|---|
|
January 8 |
1. Introduction to Dinosaurs: History of Study |
Ch. 6-12: ONLY the “A short account of their discovery” sections at the end of each chapter |
| January 10 | 2. Dinosaurs in Perspective: Geological time | Ch. 2: Back to the past: the Mesozoic Era. p. 21-30 only |
| January 15 | 3. Geology and Climate in the Mesozoic Era | Ch. 2: Back to the past: the Mesozoic Era. p. 30-41 only |
| January 17 | 4. Collecting Dinosaurs | Ch.1: Introduction |
|
January 22 |
5. Dinosaur Ancestors: Where did they come from? |
Ch. 3, 4, 5: Discovering Order, Interrelationships of Vertebrates, Origin of Dinosauria |
| January 24 | 6. Dinosaur
Relationships I: Saurischia [ Handout 2: Cladogram ] |
Ch. 11, 12: ONLY the “The evolution of...” sections in each chapter. |
|
January 29 |
7. Dinosaur Relationships II: Ornithischia |
Ch. 6-10: ONLY the “The evolution of...” sections in each chapter. |
| January 31 | 8. How Dinosaurs Worked: Biomechanics I | Ch. 6-12: ONLY the “Lives and lifestyles” sections in each chapter that pertain to posture and locomotion. |
|
February 5 |
9. How Dinosaurs Worked: Biomechanics II |
Ch. 6-12: ONLY the “Lives and lifestyles” sections in each chapter that pertain to feeding and diet. |
| February 7 | MIDTERM | MIDTERM |
|
February 12 |
10. Pterosaurs |
no reading |
| February 14 | 11. The Origin of Birds | Ch. 13, 14: Theropoda II, III: The origin of birds, The early evolution of birds |
|
February 19 |
12. How Dinosaurs Worked: Physiology I |
Ch. 15: Dinosaur thermoregulation |
| February 21 | 13. How Dinosaurs Worked: Physiology II | Ch. 15: Dinosaur thermoregulation |
|
February 26 |
14. How Dinosaurs Worked: Behavior I |
Ch. 6-12: ONLY the “Lives and lifestyles” sections in each chapter not read previously. |
| February 28 | 15. How Dinosaurs Worked: Behavior II | Ch. 6-12: Review the chapters; you’ve already read them all by now. |
|
March 4 |
16. Life in the Mesozoic Seas |
no reading |
| March 6 | 17. Hot New Topics in Dinosaur Paleobiology | no reading |
|
March 11 |
18. Dinosaur Extinction I |
Ch. 16, 17: Patterns in dinosaur evolution; Reconstructing extinctions |
|
March 13 |
19. Dinosaur Extinction II |
Ch. 18: The Cretaceous-Tertiary Extinction |
| March 22 | FINAL EXAM | 10:30 to 12:30 pm in 1001 Giedt Hall |
