PALEO 520 Syllabus Time: Room: Instructor Erin Maxwell Office ...

PALEO 520 Syllabus
Time:
Room:
Instructor
Erin Maxwell
Office: Z428
Phone: 2-3458
email: emaxwell@ualberta.ca
Objectives
To critically examine current topics and problems in vertebrate paleontology by
investigation of the discipline’s major theoretical, methodological and philosophical
foundations.
Grading scheme
50% seminar presentation
20% in class participation
20% term paper
10% proposal
Lecture schedule
1 – Jan. 6 – Introduction to the course
2 – Jan. 13 – Phylogenetic analysis of morphological data (overview)
3 – Jan. 20 – Character analysis
4 – Jan. 27 – Biomechanics and functional morphology
5 – Feb. 3 – Morphospace and constraint
6 – Feb. 10 – Adaptation
– Feb. 17 – READING WEEK
7 – Feb. 24 – Species concepts
8 – March 3 – The unit of selection
9 – March 10 – Body size, allometry and scaling
10 – March 17 – Age estimation and rate determination in fossil vertebrates
11 – March 24 – Taphonomy: diversity and abundance estimates
12 – March 31 – Taphonomy: specimen deformation
13 – April 7 – Paleobiogeographical analysis
Presentation Guidelines
For each presentation, I will provide a focus paper, unless you have suggestions
for your own. You also have to provide two papers discussing the problem in relation to
vertebrate paleontology no later than the week prior to your seminar. The papers should
be current, i.e. published in the past five years. All students in the class are responsible
for reading the papers for that week, in order to contribute to the discussion.
Presentations should be 1 – 1.5 hours long, followed by at least 30 minutes of
discussion. Ideally, the presentation should briefly summarize the history of the topic, the
theoretical and philosophical underpinnings, practical application / methodology, and

data (if relevant). The presenter should be prepared to provide a few points for
discussion. Presentations should be formal (i.e., powerpoint or other visual aids); I will
organize a projector.
Term paper and abstract guidelines
Your term paper should be 20-30 pages long (including references). It should be
a literature review discussing either a theoretical problem in vertebrate paleontology (for
instance, “Can we identify ‘ancestors’ in the fossil record?”), or a critical evaluation of a
set of methodologies (example: “Methods for estimating time of origin of a clade”). If the
latter approach is selected, strengths and weaknesses of the chosen methodologies as well
as potential alternate methods need to be discussed. The paper can also take the form of a
test of the different methods on a sample data set. Your presentation and your paper
should not overlap. The term paper is due (in hard copy) April 9 th .
Please hand in a 1-page proposal (single-spaced) including at least four references
for your term paper by February 12 th . The proposal should include the following details:
1) Topic (what is the problem to be investigated? Why is it of interest?); 2) Background
(quick summary of existing literature conflict) 3) Objectives (how you plan on
approaching the problem – non-biased summary? Point-of-view piece? With data?). The
proposal is binding, in the sense that if your term paper is on a different topic than that
outlined in the proposal, you may be penalized. If you really need to switch topics, come
talk to me no less than one week before the term paper is due and provide me with a new
proposal. The new proposal will be regraded. I reserve the right to refuse the topic switch.
Focus papers
Phylogenetic analysis of morphological data: Folinsbee, K.E., D.C. Evans, J. Fröbisch,
L.A. Tsuji and D.R. Brooks. 2007. Quantitative approaches to phylogenetics. In
Handbook of Paleoanthropology pp. 67-215.
Character analysis: Poe, S. and J.J. Wiens. Character selection and the methodology of
morphological phylogenetics. In J.J. Wiens (ed.), Phylogenetic analysis of morphological
data. Smithsonian Institution Press, Washington. pp. 20-36.
Biomechanics and functional morphology: Koehl, M.A.R. 1996. When does morphology
matter? Annual review of Ecology and Systematics 27:501-542.
Morphospace and constraint: Richardson, M.K. and A.D. Chipman. 2003.
Developmental constraints in a comparative framework: a test case using variations in
phalanx number during amniote evolution. Journal of Experimental Zoology (Mol Dev
Evol) 296B:8-22.
Adaptation: Baum, D.A., and A. Larson. 1991. Adaptation reviewed: a phylogenetic
methodology for studying character macroevolution. Systematic Zoology 40(1):1-18.
Species concepts: de Queiroz, K. 2007. Species concepts and species delimitation.
Systematic Biology 56(6):879-886.

The unit of selection: Jablonski, D. 2008. Species selection: theory and data. Annual
Reviews of Ecology, Evolution and Systematics 39:501-524.
Body size, allometry and scaling: LaBarbera, M. 1989. Analyzing body size as a factor in
ecology and evolution. Annual Review of Ecology and Systematics 20:97-117.
Age estimation and rate determination in fossil vertebrates: Castanet, J., H. Francillon-
Vieillot, F.J. Meunier, and A. de Ricqles. 1993. Bone and individual aging. In B.K. Hall,
(ed.) Bone, Volume 7: Bone Growth B.
Taphonomy: diversity and abundance estimates: Behrensmeyer, A.K., S.M. Kidwell and
R.A. Gastaldo. 2000. Taphonomy and paleobiology. Paleobiology 26(4,
supplement):103-147.
Taphonomy, deformation and reconstruction: Boyd, A.A. and R. Motani. 2008. Threedimensional
re-evaluation of the deformation removal technique based on “jigsaw
puzzling”. Palaeontologia Electronica 11(2):7A
Paleobiogeographical analysis: Morrone, J.J. and J.V. Crisci. 1995. Historical
biogeography: introduction to methods. Annual Review of Ecology and Systematics
26:373-401.