Instructions for the paper are as follows:
*Note: the species, referred to as “your species” below, is the Canada Lynx (species/scientific name Lynx canadensis; from the Felidae family)
In this assignment, you’ll be researching the evolutionary history, or evolutionary concepts, about your species (or if not your exact species, then the evolution of that genus or family).
Search and read/skim several abstracts of article(s) that describe some aspect of the evolution, systematics, or phylogeny, of your specific species.
Then choose one (or two if you have the time/energy) article(s) of those that describe some aspect of the evolution, systematics, or phylogeny, of your specific species (If you can’t find an article specifically about your own chosen species, that’s fine, because even just finding an article which addresses concepts about the larger group/taxa your species belongs to will be appropriate.)
For example, let’s imagine your project is on vampire bats, which have the following classification (check Wikipedia)
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Mammalia
Order: Chiroptera
Family: Phyllostomidae
Subfamily: Desmodontinae
*** Please note, this information on the classification is not needed in your paper. It’s just to get down as close as you can to your species level. I just wanted people to explore also, the way the species fits into the tree of life.
1) You could 1st search the subfamily “Desmodontinae evolution”, but if few articles or no articles are produced, then….
2) search the order Family “Phyllostomidae” (new world leaf-nosed bats) or even higher the order “Chiroptera” (all bats)
3) Sort by other factors, such as last ~5 years (2018-2023), then skim abstracts.
You should write a brief summary of the paper and upload both your summary, and the paper.
One major purpose of the this assignment is write and summarize what is known about the evolution of your species.
You could use other search engines like Google Scholar, or other sites–however, my main goal is to make sure students are reading the primary literature (the actual scientific studies by researchers, instead of the popular press reports written in secondary/popular/general public friendly articles. It’s important to read the source rather than what someone else takes from it, understands, or focuses on.)
Any relevant, scholarly article can be used for the assignment as long as it is about the Canada Lynx (Lynx canadensis) or the family in which they belong to (Felidae).
The following files have been attached which can be used to complete the assignment:
– Grading rubric which displays the criteria the assignment will be assessed on
– Several articles that can be used for the assignment. You can locate a different article if you wish although I believe these are some good options for this purpose.
There is no set required page length or required number of words. 2 pages minimum is standard for this class. A detailed summary/analysis is what is most important so if more than 2 pages are needed to sufficiently relay the details of the article, please reach out and I will adjust the order/price. There is no specific format that is required so you may use whichever you are most comfortable with. Please include a citiation of the article used, as well as in text citations.
Please reach out for further questions. Thank you in advance.
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