Dornsife FLP: Advanced techniques in field mammalogy (BISC 499L)

*Undergraduate applicants only, graduate students are not eligible*

Syllabus

Program Information

This course will introduce students to field skills and museum-based curation resources used to investigate questions in population biology. The course will combine training at the Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County with field-based investigations in several contrasting Southern California habitats. This combined approach introduces students to authentic tools used by scientists working in conservational biology fields and concepts related to wildlife biology management. In the lab component of this course, students will be given hands-on instruction in the NHMLAC collections, which are an integral component to studying natural history. Students will handle real skulls, skins, and other material from a variety of mammal taxa found within California. Students will learn how to identify skeletal elements as well as unify the relationship between bone form and function. Additionally, students will be introduced to the role of geospatial data in biology and apply that knowledge in their own research projects and presentations. The field-based aspects of this course, will provide students with exposure to learn how to trap, identify and release mammals from a variety of ecosystems. Students will identify specimens to species-level and learn about what environmental features predict species presence/diversity. At the beginning of each week (Tuesday), we will meet in the private collections of the NHMLAC to learn various topics such as the morphology, classification, distribution, and physiology of mammals. We spend the rest of the week (Wednesday through Friday) in the field, trapping (live release), identifying, and cataloguing mammals and their diversity.

Contact Information

Faculty Director: Dr. Matthew Dean

Email: matthew.dean@usc.edu

Teaching Assistant: Charlie Toney

Email: ctoney@usc.edu