ZOOL19002 - Australian Vertebrate Fauna

General Information

Unit Synopsis

Australia is renowned for its unique and diverse vertebrate animals. This unit will provide you with an introduction to Australian vertebrate diversity and to the necessary tools to understand the evolutionary, morphological, behavioural and ecological diversity of Australian vertebrate fauna against the backdrop of global vertebrate diversity and evolution. You will learn to use a wide variety of ‘tools’ (taxonomy, phylogeny, fossils, ecophysiology, comparative anatomy, behavioural ecology) as methods for understanding the past, current, and future vertebrate fauna of Australia. You will also learn and practice the applied skill-sets and techniques required for fauna survey and wildlife research in Australia, proficiency in identification of Australian vertebrates and technical report writing for wildlife monitoring and surveying.

Details

Level Undergraduate
Unit Level 2
Credit Points 6
Student Contribution Band SCA Band 2
Fraction of Full-Time Student Load 0.125
Pre-requisites or Co-requisites

Prerequisites: (BIOL11099 Living Systems OR BIOL11102 Life Sciences Laboratory) 

Important note: Students enrolled in a subsequent unit who failed their pre-requisite unit, should drop the subsequent unit before the census date or within 10 working days of Fail grade notification. Students who do not drop the unit in this timeframe cannot later drop the unit without academic and financial liability. See details in the Assessment Policy and Procedure (Higher Education Coursework).

Class Timetable View Unit Timetable
Residential School Compulsory Residential School
View Unit Residential School

Unit Availabilities from Term 2 - 2024

Term 2 - 2024 Profile
Mixed Mode
Rockhampton
Term 2 - 2025 Profile
Mixed Mode
Rockhampton

Attendance Requirements

All on-campus students are expected to attend scheduled classes - in some units, these classes are identified as a mandatory (pass/fail) component and attendance is compulsory. International students, on a student visa, must maintain a full time study load and meet both attendance and academic progress requirements in each study period (satisfactory attendance for International students is defined as maintaining at least an 80% attendance record).

Assessment Overview

Recommended Student Time Commitment

Each 6-credit Undergraduate unit at CQUniversity requires an overall time commitment of an average of 12.5 hours of study per week, making a total of 150 hours for the unit.

Assessment Tasks

Assessment Task Weighting
1. Online Quiz(zes) 50%
2. Laboratory/Practical 0%
3. Written Assessment 50%

This is a graded unit: your overall grade will be calculated from the marks or grades for each assessment task, based on the relative weightings shown in the table above. You must obtain an overall mark for the unit of at least 50%, or an overall grade of ‘pass’ in order to pass the unit. If any ‘pass/fail’ tasks are shown in the table above they must also be completed successfully (‘pass’ grade). You must also meet any minimum mark requirements specified for a particular assessment task, as detailed in the ‘assessment task’ section (note that in some instances, the minimum mark for a task may be greater than 50%).

Consult the University's Grades and Results Policy for more details of interim results and final grades

Past Exams

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Previous Feedback

Term 2 - 2024 : The overall satisfaction for students in the last offering of this course was 100.00% (`Agree` and `Strongly Agree` responses), based on a 40% response rate.

Feedback, Recommendations and Responses

Every unit is reviewed for enhancement each year. At the most recent review, the following staff and student feedback items were identified and recommendations were made.

Source: Verbal feedback during residential school.
Feedback
Found the use of the remote monitoring technology a valuable experience.
Recommendation
Continue to employ and teach the use of non-invasive remote monitoring technology to monitor Australian wildlife.
Action Taken
Increased and expanded the use of non-invasive remote monitoring technology during the residential school.
Source: Verbal feedback during residential school.
Feedback
Appreciated the use of acoustic software to identify and analyze bat calls.
Recommendation
Maintain and continue teaching the use of acoustic software analysis and identification of Australian bat calls
Action Taken
Maintained the emphasis on the use of acoustic software analysis for surveying and identification of Australian bat calls.
Source: Self-reflection.
Feedback
The residential school timetabling was disorganized, this resulted in poor on-site accommodation and teaching spaces.
Recommendation
Have fixed timetabling dates for residential schools that are conducted off-site in conjunction with third party providers.
Action Taken
In Progress
Source: Student Unit Evaluation 2024.
Feedback
Learning how to use Anabat acoustic software to analyze and identify bat calls was enjoyable and very worthwhile.
Recommendation
Retain training sessions in acoustic software analysis and introduce a pre-residential school familiarization session.
Action Taken
In Progress
Source: Student Unit Evaluation 2024.
Feedback
The unit is extremely enjoyable, the residential school linked to the theory beautifully.
Recommendation
The emphasis placed on linking theory to practical remains a important theme of the unit.
Action Taken
In Progress
Unit learning Outcomes

On successful completion of this unit, you will be able to:

  1. Describe the evolution, diversity and distribution of major vertebrate fauna in Australia
  2. Explain the significance of behavioural, reproductive, physiological, and nutritional adaptations in Australian vertebrates
  3. Apply knowledge about the biology of a species to their applied conservation and management to explain why invasive species pose a threat to Australian vertebrate fauna
  4. Practice industry and ethical standards and techniques in monitoring, surveying Australian vertebrate fauna
  5. Communicate knowledge and study findings in verbal and written scientific reports.

Alignment of Assessment Tasks to Learning Outcomes
Assessment Tasks Learning Outcomes
1 2 3 4 5
1 - Online Quiz(zes) • • •
2 - Laboratory/Practical • • •
3 - Written Assessment • • •
Alignment of Graduate Attributes to Learning Outcomes
• Introductory Level
• Intermediate Level
• Graduate Level
Graduate Attributes Learning Outcomes
1 2 3 4 5
1 - Communication • • • •
2 - Problem Solving • • •
3 - Critical Thinking • • • •
4 - Information Literacy • • •
5 - Team Work •
6 - Information Technology Competence • •
7 - Cross Cultural Competence •
8 - Ethical practice •
Alignment of Assessment Tasks to Graduate Attributes
• Introductory Level
• Intermediate Level
• Graduate Level
Assessment Tasks Graduate Attributes
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10