For
course description and prerequisites, please
refer to the Department
of Environmental Biology course calender.
For
the information on the current or upcoming term, please refer to the Department
of Environmental Biology course outline
A few FAQs:
“What do I have to
know for the Insect Diversity and Biology exam?”
It is tempting to answer this
frequently asked question with one word (“everything”) but in fact,
as every good student knows, lectures always contain a mixture of core
ideas/facts and extra material that puts the core in perspective and
(hopefully) makes it more interesting. The “core” for 309 is an
overview of the dominant groups of insects including their life cycles,
behavior, and interactions with other vertebrates (including us). Everything
discussed in lecture is of potential value in writing an exam, but every effort
will be made to design questions that do not demand knowledge of minor groups
of insects. For example, you should expect to answer direct questions about the
Reduviidae, a group we discussed at length, but you
are unlikely to be directly questioned about Aradidae
or Mesoveliidae. You would, however, be well served
by knowing about the latter two groups if you are asked general questions about
fungus-eating insects, insects under bark, insects associated with old-growth
forest, wing dimorphism, or water surface communities (although such questions
could also be answered perfectly well without knowing anything about those
particular families of bugs).
“Do I have to know scientific
names?”
Yes, you must recognize any
scientific name used in the lecture if the name is used in a question. As
discussed above, you are unlikely to be called upon to recognize the names of
minor families, and questions will normally include common names for most
groups. Still, I would advise you to know all the ordinal names and the family
names for the larger and more important families. Both scientific and common
names are equally acceptable in your answers.
“What form will the
questions take?”
309 exams normally use a
mixture of the following sorts of questions:
Short answer questions (discuss the biology of Acrididae,
compare mating in dragonflies, mayflies and springtails, compare respiration in
aquatic Hemiptera and Ephemeroptera,
discuss mechanisms and reasons for sound production in three groups of insects,
provide the life cycle of this or that, etc). Pay attention to the number of
marks allocated to the question, and do not waste paper on the obvious (i.e.,
if asked for life history details, then simply saying
“egg-nymph-adult” is not adequate) or the spurious (i.e., if asked
to discuss sound production don’t bother to display your great knowledge
of oviposition strategies). Point form is acceptable
unless specifically prohibited (i.e., “discuss alternative classification
systems for the Hemiptera, do not use point
form”).
Fill in the blanks. (For example: The insects that carry Chagas’ disease are called____________________, and
although this disease is most important in ________________countries, it also
occurs sporadically in
Short
definitions or one word answers.
(i.e., “what is a subimago?”,
name an insect associated with the following phenomenon or structure, etc. ).
“Can you recommend
any reading other than the notes?”
I would read over the
introductory material and appropriate sections (information on the orders
covered) in “Insects of Algonquin Park”, and/or review the same
orders in one of the recommended textbooks (or in any one of about 50 general
entomology books in the library). “Insects – their Natural History
and Diversity”, published in the spring of 2006, was written specifically
for this course and is recommended reading.