Students discuss key principles underlying different modes of interaction and their consequences at different levels of organization. Student led discussions of recent research papers and reviews from the primary literature illuminate hot issues in this discipline and how established investigators approach them. Field trips in the vicinity of the biological station, which is smack in the middle of beautiful Northwestern Montana, are a central feature of this course. Field trips provide direct experience with different classes and examples of PA interactions, and allow immersion in naturalistic observation and practical experience in the adaptationist hypothesis testing approach. Flathead Lake is one of the primary research organizations of the University of Montana.
Students can sign up for either undergraduate and graduate credit for either course.
Students in both courses should be in good physical condition to participate fully in all field trips. As much lecturing and discussion as possible will be in the field. For those taking both courses in sequence, they will be complimentary, offering a better chance to perform an in-depth research project. Appropriate studies designed as part of the course requirement in Animal Behavior can then be implemented in partial fulfillment of the requirements for Plant-Animal Interactions. Research intern duties include collecting quantitative data, entering the data into a Tandy 102 portable computer, transferring the data to a PC, carefully checking the transferred data for accuracy, and making descriptive entries into observer log books.