This web syllabus and course blog is designed as a supplement for the Invertebrate Paleontology course (ESCI 220) at The College of Wooster. For course specifics, please see the course notes page. Each week I will add links, images and other items to illustrate the material and provide additional information (and alternative views). This is a living document, so it will change weekly, sometimes daily, during the semester. I may be only a week ahead in the addition of links and other items. The schedule of assignments, of course, will remain constant. Don’t miss the Systematics listing — it will be important in your lives very soon! You can think of this page as a web newsletter for the course. If you have ideas for this page, please send me a message. Note that you can also add comments to the entries. You may also want to refer to our History of Life course webpage. We are particularly proud of our Wooster Geologists blog.
Invertebrate Paleontology is a writing intensive (“W”) course which fulfills in part the writing requirement at the College. As such it has an emphasis on writing as a primary means by which scientific ideas are explored and expressed. It is important to note at the beginning that while the writing assignments in this course are significant, they include as much instruction as evaluation.
Welcome to Invertebrate Paleontology!
Schedule of Lectures
Lectures in Scovel Hall Room 205, Tuesday & Thursday, 8:00 – 9:20 a.m.
Lab Sessions in Scovel Hall Room 219, Tuesday & Thursday, 1:00 – 2:20 p.m.
August 23 —
History and Systematics
Reading: See links on our home page for this week, and search for your own resources.
Lab: Fossil preservation; introduction to our Systematics pages.
Special events:
Assignments: (Preparation questions)
August 28 & 30 —
Paleoecology; The Kingdom of the Single-Celled Eucaryotes (Protista)
Reading: See links on our home page for this week, and search for your own resources.
Lab: Chrysophytes and sarcodines (mostly foraminiferans and radiolarians)
Special events:
Assignments: (Preparation questions)
September 4 & 6 —
Phylum Porifera: The Simplest of the Animals (Sponges)
Reading: See links on our home page for this week, and search for your own resources.
Lab: Sponges and a start on the cnidarians.
Special events: We will have our required field trip on Sunday, September 9. (Arrive at Scovel Hall by 6:45 a.m.)
Assignments: By now you should have shared a Dropbox folder with me. (Preparation questions)
September 11 & 13 —
Phylum Cnidaria: Jellyfish, Corals and Other Stingers
Reading: See links on our home page for this week, and search for your own resources.
Lab: Cnidarians
Special events:
Assignments: Essay #1 due by 7:30 a.m. on Thursday (Preparation questions)
September 18 & 20 —
A start on brachiopods
Reading: See links on our home page for this week, and search for your own resources.
Lab: Field specimen extravaganza (sawing, labeling) and brachiopods
Special events:
Assignments: Lecture Exam #1 on Thursday, September 20. (Preparation questions)
September 25 & 27 —
Phylum Brachiopoda: The Lamp Shells
Reading: See links on our home page for this week, and search for your own resources.
Lab: Acetate peels and review on Tuesday; Lab Test #1 on Thursday; bryozoans after the test.
Special events:
Assignments: Lab Test #1 on Thursday, September 27; bryozoans after the test. (Preparation questions)
October 2 & 4 —
Phylum Bryozoa: Fuzzy Moss Animals
Reading: See links on our home page for this week, and search for your own resources.
Lab: Bryozoans
Special events:
Assignments: (Preparation questions)
October 16 & 18 —
Phylum Mollusca: Our Friends the Gastropods
Reading: See links on our home page for this week, and search for your own resources.
Lab: Hyoliths, polyplacophorans, monoplacophorans, and gastropods
Special events:
Assignments: (Preparation questions)
October 23 & 25 —
Phylum Mollusca: Cephalopods
Reading: See links on our home page for this week, and search for your own resources.
Lab: Cephalopods, scaphopods and rostroconchs
Special events:
Assignments: Essay #2 due by 7:30 a.m. on Thursday in Dropbox; (Preparation questions)
- October 30 & November 1 —
Phylum Mollusca: Scaphopods, Rostroconchs and a Start on Bivalves
Reading: See links on our home page for this week, and search for your own resources.
Lab: Bivalve dissection; bivalves.
Special events:
Assignments: Lecture Exam #2 on Thursday, November 1; (Preparation questions)
November 8 —
Phylum Mollusca: The Bivalves (continued) and Molluscan Evolution
Reading: See links on our home page for this week, and search for your own resources.
Lab: No lab on Tuesday; Lab Exam #2 on Thursday, November 8.
Special events: No class or lab on Tuesday, November 6. The geology faculty and many students are at the annual meeting of the Geological Society of America.
Assignments: Lab Exam #2 on Thursday, November 8. (Preparation questions)
November 13 & 15 —
Arthropods: The Dominant Phylum
Reading: See links on our home page for this week, and search for your own resources.
Lab: Arthropods
Special events:
Assignments: (Preparation questions)
- November 20 —
Phylum Echinodermata: They of the Spiny Skin
Reading: See links on our home page for this week, and search for your own resources.
Lab: Arthropods and echinoderms
Special events:
Assignments: Field studies report due on paper by 8:00 a.m. Here is a sample field studies report generously given to us by Alexis. (Preparation questions)
November 27 & 29 —
Phylum Echinodermata (continued)
Reading: See links on our home page for this week, and search for your own resources.
Lab: Echinoderms
Special events:
Assignments: (Preparation questions)
December 4 & 6 —
Graptolites, Worms, Trace Fossils and Evolution
Reading: See links on our home page for this week, and search for your own resources.
Lab: Graptolites, tubeworms, trace fossils; review of all specimens.
Special events:
Assignments: Research paper now due in Dropbox folder by 7:30 a.m. on FRIDAY, December 7; (Preparation questions)
December 10 (Monday) — Final Lab & Lecture Exam (Noon — 2:00 p.m.)
