Syllabus ENY 1001

Insects, Man, and Environment

TR- 9:30-10:45 AM

Course Description:

ENY 1001 Insects, Man, and Environment (3 credit hours). Prerequisite: none

A survey course in entomology for non‑majors. The focus will be on the global beneficial and detrimental impact of insects and their role in the environment. Areas of concern to man, such as the role of insects as disease vectors, agricultural and urban pests, biological control agents, indicators of environmental quality, stored product pests, pollinators, and forensic crime‑solving tools will be given emphasis. The students will look at the world from a non‑anthropocentric viewpoint, and expand their knowledge about the overwhelming abundance and diversity of insects.

Objectives of Course:

There are two goals in this course. One is to present a concise introduction to the biology of insects, their role in agriculture and their importance in transmission of human diseases. A second goal is to reinforce a handful of concepts, using insects as examples, which is essential to basic "literacy" in biology. Core knowledge areas will include: 1) fundamental biochemical and physiological processes inherent to all eukaryotes,  2) concepts related to evolution and selection, 3) factors shaping the composition and interactions of ecological communities, 4) basic phylogenetic concepts and processes of specialization, and 5) how scientific information is collected and analyzed.

Student Outcome Goals:

The student outcome goals for this course are to: 1) increase biological literacy, 2) enhance writing skills, and 3) develop critical thinking skills. Insects provide an excellent vehicle for all three goals.

Honor Code: Students are required to comply with the University Code. Plagiarism will not be tolerated and will result in a final grade of F.

Tardiness and Class Participation: Class participation is vital to learning and will be considered in assigning grades.

Grading Policy:

Course Requirements

Essays:

At the end of most lectures, you will receive a couple of questions related to the lecture. If one of the questions interests you, then you should prepare a 500 to 750 word essay attempting to answer the question. Since the questions will be open‑ended and hopefully provoking, there will be no single correct answer. What we will be looking for is creativity, logic and above all, progress in your writing skills. Stop and think for a moment: once you graduate, you will

rarely see another multiple choice test but you will be called upon to communicate. Consider this as a very friendly way to get some writing experience in a non‑threatening setting. As writing is an iterative sport, we will give you a grade based on our list of criteria. If you like your grade, then move on to the next essay. If you think you want a better grade, then rework the essay and hand it in the VERY NEXT class meeting. We will reread it and see if you have made progress. You will have the chance to rewrite twice. There is considerable learning value in quick turn around so we will do our best to get the essay back to you by the next class meeting. You may have several essays in the works at any given time.

There are about 21- 25 formal lectures between now and the end of the semester. You must write six different essays. The essay must be turned in at the next class session. As you have a number of choices, no late essays will be accepted. It must be typed and you should proof it carefully. To ensure that we are not swamped during the last weeks of the course, you must do three essays before the semester break and three afterwards.

Although identical or near identical essays will be returned without grading, feel free to get together with a fellow colleague and discuss the essays. Indeed, much of how we prepare to write a paper involves talking with our students and other faculty members. We get a chance to test our ideas and talking helps us organize our thoughts. We will have time to discuss each of the questions in class and we will let you kick ideas around with your colleagues. You can then feel free to incorporate those ideas into your essay.

Those of you who feel a 500 to 750 word essay is a pain, consider that from the essay section head to here there are 420 words.

Grading essays is always difficult and is often seen as subjective. In part, there is subjectivity, but there is a good deal of easily identified gradable material. We have a check sheet that lists the important features that needed to be incorporated. You can take a look at it and decide where you need to put your emphasis on.

Textbook:

Berenbaum, MR. 1996. Bugs in the System: Insects and Their Impact on Human Affairs (Helix Books). ISBN: 0201408244

Peters, MT, 1987. Insects and Human Society. (An avi Book). Van Nostrand Reinhold Company. New York. 450p

Newman, LH. 1965. Man and Insects. Aldus books Limited. The Natural History Press publisher. 252p

Daly, H.V., J.T. Doyan, and A.H. Purcel. 1998. Introduction to Insect Biology and Diversity. (Oxford Univ. Press). 680p.

Additional Resources: A huge amount of information on entomology is available on the Internet:

1.   A very substantial information is found at Colorado State University (hftp://www.colostate.edu/Depts/CMB/.)

2.   A nice insect image gallery is also available at Iowa State University and can be viewed at http://www.ent.iastate.edu/imagegallery/.

3.   Usefulness of entomology can even lead to cooking and eating these nutritious organisms (see hftp://www.eatbug.com/) or see hftp://www.hollowtop.com/finl htmt/buglinks.htm

Copies of recent scientific papers pertinent to the course will be made available in class. Students are required to have access to and use email and the World Wide Web.

Tentative Lecture Schedule ENY 1001- Insects, Man, and Environment