Course: Dinosaurs
Lecture 1: Introduction and Objectives: A brief history of life: Review of geological time and a brief review of the history of life; what is a dinosaur? Sedimentology and dating fossils.
From the textbook: Part 1; Chapter 1, page 13-25; Chapter 2, page 33-39, Chapter 15, page 400-412
Lecture 2: Fossils, Fossilization and Taphonomy: What is a fossil? How do fossils form? The science of taphonomy and how we use it to interpret fossils (did that Velociraptor really get buried in a sandstorm?).
From the textbook: Chapter 1, page 8-12; Chapter 2, page 28-33
Lecture 4: Evolution and Phylogenetics: Review of evolution; what is a species? Phylogenetic systematics; cladograms and how they are constructed. From Textbook: Chapter 3
Lecture 5: Chordate Evolution and Skeletal Anatomy: Vertebrate anatomy; Overview of chordate evolution leading up to the clade Dinosauromorpha and the key features of each major group. The discover and biology of Tiktaalik, rhipedestian fish that shows the first adaptons to living on land. From the textbook: Chapter 4, page 66-79
Lecture 6: Archosauromorpha to the earliest dinosaurs: picking up from lecture 5, we expand on some of the important steps in tetrapod evolution and introduce the earliest dinosaurs; Dr.Danny Barta on the Triassic theropod Coelophysis, an early dinosaur.
From the textbook: Chapter 4, page 79-85; Chapter 5
Lecture 7: Theropada 1: Anatomy and Biology of Spinosaurus; Tetanurae
From the textbook: Part II; Chapter 6; Chapter 7, p. 152-158
Lecture 8: Theropoda 2: Introduction to Coelosauria. Tyrannosauridae and T.rex biology.
From the textbook: Chapter 7, page 158-167
The midterm will typically consist of approximately 50 questions depending on their level of difficulty.