On successful completion of this course students should be able to:

1. Understand the role of ethical compliance and research permits needed to study vertebrate animals.

2. Demonstrate the core practical skills needed by conservation biologists to identify a range of vertebrate taxa, including use of dichotomous keys and the integration of morphological, genetic, behavioural and remotely-sensed evidence.

3. Construct and curate databases that detail the fauna collected in line with government and ethical reporting obligations

4. Extract, synthesise and report in written or oral forms on the taxonomic and geographic range, conservation status and basic ecology of Australian vertebrate fauna.

A series of lectures will introduce students to the major vertebrate groups, and how various species are classified and identified using morphological, behavioural and molecular evidence. These lectures will include information on ethics, permits and the reporting required for compliance when studying vertebrates. Practical sessions will allow students to workshop, practise and develop identification skills with face-to-face interactions with trained staff will support the lectures. Multi-day intensive field work will apply the skills learned to a field situation. The field work delivers strong experiential (hands-on) learning for students by allowing them to engage in some of the monitoring that forms part of a long-running conservation program. Students will work in small groups to collect a diversity of field data that forms part of an existing long-term research program in the conservation and restoration of ecosystems. Each student will also produce a written profile of an individual species.

The first week of this two week intensive course will introduce students to the classification of terrestrial vertebrates and how morphological, behavioural and molecular techniques are used to identify animals. The course will cover amphibians and reptiles, birds and mammals. Lectures will highlight the anatomical and behavioural features that can be used to identify different species within the different taxonomic groups and where molecular studies can enhance the precision of those identifications, particularly were several species are difficult to separate by other means. Methods used to age and sex some of the vertebrate groups will also be taught. Lectures will be supported with tutorials, workshops, and practicals where students will learn to use keys and practice identifying animals using images, recordings and preserved specimens or components (bones, feathers, etc). These initial lectures will also cover ethical areas and compliance requirements for studying vertebrate animals.

The second week of the course will consist of multi-day field trips to an ecological restoration field site and additional practical classes. During the field work the class will execute components of long-term monitoring programs for mammals, reptiles, and birds. The field work will involve setting traps and pitfall lines to trap small mammals and reptiles at sites inside and outside a fenced exclosure. Students under guidance will then check traps, extract, handle, identify, measure and tag the animals that are caught before releasing them. Other components of the field work will include similar field assessments of bird populations inside and outside fenced exclosures plus training in the use of remote recording (camera traps, audio recorders) and potentially other indirect methods (track counts) to assess the presence (and potentially relative abundances) of different species of animals. For the field work, students will work in small groups and switch activities each day.

The final component of this course will be run during the second half of the semester and involve students producing a profile of an individual species. This task requires each student to select a species and produce a species profile where they provide details on its taxonomy and how it is classified, provide a detailed description and highlight distinctive features, determine how it is distinguished from similar species, establish and report on its distribution, identify any geographic variations and what these are, indicate how the different ages and sexes can be distinguished, and then continue with other information on their general ecology, behaviour and conservation status. The task involves searching the literature and various accessible data bases, and extracting and compiling information. A series of tutorials will be used to instruct and assist the students with this task.

Quizzes and Reports (total of 25%)

Students will complete a total of 5 quizzes (each of 15 min duration and each worth 2%) during the first week. Quizzes are designed to refresh knowledge of topics covered in lectures and practicals and indicate the major features that are used to identify different taxonomic groups and ethical issues (learning outcomes 1 & 2) Quizzes will be held at the end of the practical sessions on each day. They will consist of multiple choice and short answer questions. An additional report worth 15% will assess practical understanding.

Field skills (total of 15%)

This formative assessment will score the field skills, approach and aptitude of students to field work during the multi-day field trips. Each student will be scored on a series of competencies from setting traps, checking traps, handling and processing animals, collecting mensural and observational data. This will be on-going assessment throughout the field work with an open discussion between the students and supervisors of the different field programs. This will allow self-reflection. The intention is to have all students reach at least a minimum standard with all field tasks. The field work is compulsory for all students to meet the learning objectives of the course.

Data base construction and management (10%)

Each group will be required to establish and propagate a suitable database for the data they have collected during the field work. The database must conform with the expected requirements of permits for scientific research, meet the needs of the field monitoring program, and be easily read and interpreted by others. This assesses learning outcome 3 and reinforces learning outcome 1. This will be done as a small group exercise and assessed as a small group. The field work to collect the data used for this assessment is compulsory for all students to meet the learning objectives of the course.

Individual species report (~ 3000 words; 50%)

The task involves students searching the literature and various accessible data bases, and extracting, compiling and synthesising information. It builds on the field skills around animal identification developed in the course but also exposes students to a suite of other tools and information needed to fully appreciate and study wildlife populations. The task is often required in government employment situations and would be required as a pre-cursor to conducting research on a species. This task assesses learning outcome 4.

If an extension is not applied for, or not granted then a penalty for late submission will apply. A penalty of 10% of the value of the assignment for each calendar day that the assignment is late (i.e. weekends count as 2 days), up to a maximum of 50% of the available marks will be applied. This means that an assignment that is 5 days late or more without an approved extension can only receive a maximum of 50% of the marks available for that assignment.