Anthropology 348

Primate Socioecology

Fall 2007
(© Ryne A. Palombit)

"He who understands [the] baboon,
would do more toward metaphysics than Locke."
--Charles Darwin


Behavior is an evolved biological phenomenon, and in this course we will explore why nonhuman primates behave as they do.  As the word "socioecology" implies, our emphasis will be on understanding the adaptive significance of the diversity of primate social behavior within an ecological context.  The objectives of the course are: (1) to understand how to think "functionally" about problems in biology; (2) to appreciate the great variation in ecology and behavior in primates; (3) to apply the functional approach, Darwin's concept of natural selection, to explain that variation.  



Instructor: Ryne A. Palombit
001 Biological Sciences Bldg (Douglass Campus)
Phone: (732) 932-5214
Email: palombit@rci.rutgers.edu
Office Hours: Wednesday, 5:15-6:15pm & Thursday, 2-3pm
Prerequisite: Anthropology 212 (Survey of the Living Primates) (it is OK to fulfill prereq by taking 212 and 348 concurrently)

Textbooks:

Meeting Time & Place:         Mon/Wed 3:55-5:15 pm in BioSci 205


Requirements
:
1.  Midterm (25%)
2.  Final Exam (30%)
3.  Term Paper (35%)
4.  Class Discussions (5%) & Term Paper Topic Assignment (5%)

Classroom etiquette
While students are in class, they are expected to give their full attention to the lecture.  Reading, talking, eating, text-messaging on cell phone, leaving or packing up to leave before the professor has dismissed the class are inappropriate classroom behaviors and disruptive to other students.  If for some reason you know that you will need to leave lecture early, let me know before class begins, sit near a door, and leave quietly and unobtrusively.  If you come to class late, be sure to enter quietly and take care not to disturb the class in progress.  Also, please make sure that your watch alarms, pagers, and cell phones do not go off during class..


Policy Regarding Missed Exams:
Generally, makeup examinations are not given (and the score for the missed exam is entered as zero “0”). If you would like to be considered for a makeup examination, the following three conditions must be met:

    1. You should have a legitimate excuse for having missed the original exam, e.g., illness, family emergency.
    2.  Inform me by phone or in person within 48 hrs before or after the scheduled exam date that you cannot take the exam. My phone has voice mail, so you can leave a message.
    3. Within a week of the missed examination, you must provide me with a Dean's Letter of Absence (from the Dean of your school) confirming that you had a legitimate reason to miss the examination.

If all three of the above conditions apply, then you will be allowed to do a makeup assignment. This will be either: 1) taking an makeup examination; or 2) writing a term paper on a topic assigned to you.

Exams & Final Exam

It is your responsibility to note the date and time of all exams, including the final, and to plan accordingly.   The dates & times are below, on the course webpage, and (for the final) on the University webpage for Schedule of Final Exams.  If you miss the exam, or any part of it, because you thought it was given on a different day or at a different time, you will not receive extra time or a make-up exam.  This is not a legitimate excuse (#2 above).  So, take note early and mark your calendar, iPod, PalmPilot, Blackberry, mobile phone, etc., etc. etc.

Bill Gates Ate My Homework
Computer glitches (such as computers that die, hard disks that crash, flash drives that are lost, etc) will not be accepted as excuses for failure to do assignments on time, to study for exams, etc.  It is your responsibility to ensure that everything you do on a computer is properly & frequently backed up so that failure of a computer has no effect on your academic performance.

Cell Phones:  Phones must be turned off before entering lecture and exams.  Phones that are on during exams potentially constitute an academic integrity issue.

The Term Paper:
This paper will be on a subject of your choice, but must have both a topical and an organismal focus (e.g., “Why are marmosets polyandrous?”).  The paper should employ evolutionary theory that you learn from the lectures and reading to interpret some social or ecological phenomenon (e.g., sexual dimorphism, polyandry, monogamy, folivory, polyspecific associations, etc.), and it must thoroughly cover the literature on some taxonomic subset of primates (a species [e.g., Pongo pygmaeus], or genus [e.g., Cercocebus], or subfamily [e.g., Atelinae], etc.).  You are expected to use the library’s reference tools to ensure use of the recent literature & also to learn to do scholarly work.  A handout dealing with the term paper will be distributed. The paper should be about 10 pages, double-spaced.  Email a “why” question about a specific phenomenon in a particular taxon to me on or before October 10 (5% of your course grade depends upon this) & I will provide feedback.  Some topics (e.g.,  locomotion, cognition) don’t work well.  Students cannot duplicate topics & taxa: topics are allocated on “first come, first serve” basis (so email as soon as you have your topic, but be prepared to switch if someone else is already doing it).  The paper is due Dec 3.


A useful website for conducting literature searches is PrimateLit.  To access, click PrimateLit.  You can also use other search engines on library ("Find Articles" link on Library Home Page, then "Indexes and Databases" link).  You should be prepared to read materials physically in the library and unavailable electronically!


Schedule of Meetings & Readings

Although I will try to keep to this schedule, the dates on which particular topics will be covered in class are subject to change.  The dates of the exams will not be changed.  After each lecture, I will post an outline for that lecture.  Readings may be modified (additions or deletions) as the semester progresses.


DATE SUBJECT READING
Sept. 5
Intro to Course
Sept. 10
Biomes & Biogeography (& review of Primates) pp. 1-7, 14, 52-61, 73-87, Appendix (pp. 376-387)
Sept. 12
Biomes & Biogeography (& a review of Pimates)
Same as above
Sept. 17
Asking Evolutionary Questions
pp. 8-11, 23-25, 111-114
Sept. 19
Behavioral Ecology
pp. 26-35, 68-72, 8-89, 99-110, 11-124
Hinde, R.A.  1975.  The concept of function.  In: Function and Evolution in Behavior (G. Baerends, C. Beer & A. Manning, eds.), pp. 3-15.  Clarendon, Oxford.
Sept. 24
Feeding Strategies I
Chapter 6 (pp. 179-193), Chapter 11 (pp. 344-353)
Sept. 26
Feeding Strategies II
p. 40-42, Chapter 6 (pp. 179-193 again)
Bonner, J.T.  2006.  Matters of size.  Natural History, 115 (9): 54-59.
Oct. 1
Economics of Ranging
pp. 18-19, 68-70, 195-198
Oct. 3
Economics of Territoriality
pp. 19-20
Oct. 8
Primate Niches & Communities
Chapter 11 (pp. 333-343)
Oct. 10
Movie: The New Chimpanzee
Email me the TOPIC and TAXON of your term paper
Oct. 15
Reproduction & sexual selection theory
Chapter 5 (pp. 141-148)
Oct. 17
Male-male competition I
Chapter 5 (pp. 148-168, 175-178)
Oct. 22
Midterm

Oct. 24
Male-male competition II

Oct. 29
Female Choice I
Chapter 5 (pp. 168-175)
Oct. 31
Female Choice II
Eberhard, W.G.  1990.  Animal genitalia and female choice.  Scientific American, 78:134-141.
Nov. 5
Life History
Chapter 2 (pp. 42-43), Chapter 9.
Bonner, J.T.  2006.  Matters of size.  Natural History, 115 (9): 54-59.
Nov. 7
Predators of Primates

Nov. 12
Social Evolution I
Anti-Predator Models
Hamilton, W.D. 1971. Geometry for the selfish herd.  Journal of Theoretical Biology, 31:295-311.

Rodman, P.S.  1980.  Why monkeys live together.  International Wildlife, 10:18-23.
Nov. 14
Social Evolution II: Resource Defense Model
Chapter 5 (pp. 148-168); Chapter 6 (pp. 194-208); Chapter 7 & 8
Nov. 19
Pan-Pongo Comparison


Nov. 21
No class
Change in class designation for Thanksgiving Holiday
Nov. 26
Social Evolution III: Foraging Benefits Chapters 7 & 8
Nov. 28
Infanticide as selective force
Dec. 3
Evolution of Monogamy Chapter 9 (pp. 267-270)
Term Paper due
Dec. 5
Sexual Conflict: Sexual Coercion Smuts, B.B.  1995. The apes of wrath.  Discover Magazine.
Dec. 10
Movie: "Social Climbers"
From David Attenborough's Life of Mammals
Dec. 12
Open

Dec. 19
Final exam 12 pm - 3pm