Susan Raylman, Ph.D

Animal Behavior, Vertebrate Anatomy, and Ornithology

Dr. Raylman's research focuses in the fields of behavioral ecology, evolutionary biology, and science education. She teaches about how evolution shapes the behavior and anatomy of animals. She is not currently conducting research, but an outline of my research interests is available on http://www.as.wvu.edu/~sraylman.

Teaching Interests

BIOL 440 Comparative Anatomy: The animals that are most familiar to us: mammals, birds, fish, etc., are chordates and their evolutionary history is intriguing. We investigate the function, form and evolution of various anatomical systems found in chordates. In lab, you will get hands-on experience examining anatomy of a tunicate, shark, lamprey, perch, and cat. You will also handle a variety of skulls and skeletons in lab, including human bones.

BIOL 338 Behavioral Ecology: We consider how specific behaviors have evolved through natural selection, particularly in regard to an animal?s ecological role ? getting at why animals behave the way they do. We will consider both the theoretical (i.e. mathematical) and empirical (experimental and comparative) aspects of behavioral ecology.

BIOL 235 Human Physiology: This course takes an integrated systems approach to human physiology. We discuss the major physiological systems (circulatory, muscular, nervous, immune, respiratory, etc.) and consider how these systems interrelate.