Dino 101: Dinosaur Paleobiology

Dino 101: Dinosaur Paleobiology is a 12-lesson course teaching a comprehensive overview of non-avian dinosaurs. Topics covered: anatomy, eating, locomotion, growth, environmental and behavioral adaptations, origins and extinction. Lessons are delivered from museums, fossil-preparation labs and dig sites. Estimated workload: 3-5 hrs/week.

• Appearance and Anatomy
• This lesson covers the diversity in dinosaur appearances, and will be able to identify major features of the major groups of dinosaurs.
• Death and Fossilization
• This module describes how fossils form, how we interpret the taphonomy of skeletons and bonebeds, and looks at the possible biases taphonomic events may create in the fossil record.
• Eating
• This module looks at the variety of food types, feeding habits, and feeding adaptations amongst the major groups of dinosaurs.
• Moving Around
• This module helps students understand the general modes and styles of locomotion in the major dinosaur groups. It also describes general methods of evaluating hypotheses on locomotion.
• Birth, Growth and Reproduction
• This module provides a generalized life history of a dinosaur, from birth through adulthood, including reproduction. The student will be able to describe major techniques of evaluating growth stages and rates in dinosaurs.
• Attack and Defense
• Examines the behaviours and structures that may have served for attack or defence through the lifetime of a dinosaur.
• What is a Species?
• This module will teach the different ways of defining what a species is. Students will be able to compare the strengths and weaknesses of different species concepts for different situations.
• Evolution
• This module will describe the basic theories of speciation, and discusses how how these different methods of speciation may have occurred, including both hypothetical and empirical examples.
• Stratigraphy and Geologic Time
• This method provides basic stratigraphic concepts and the scale of earth history. Students will understand the evolution of dinosaurs through time, including which groups evolved when and where.
• Paleogeography and Plate Tectonics
• This module presents the basic concepts in plate tectonics and the evolution of the earth’s surface.
• Dinosaur Origins
• This module will look at the evolution of dinosaurs from non-dinosaurian archosaurs.
• Dinosaur Extinction
• The module will examine the end-Cretaceous extinction event, and provide examples of vertebrate groups that both persisted and died out during the event.