Ecology seminar is an advanced course in which we will explore, through the primary scientific literature, how ecologists understand and predict patterns of distribution and abundance of living organisms; ecosystem structure; and ecosystem function.
Three general skills are required to conduct ecological research successfully and to interpret experimental results meaningfully:
While the first skill cannot be taught, the other two skills can, and are the focus of the work in this course.
Class Meetings: This seminar meets two afternoons a week (Monday and Wednesdays, 1:00-3:50). On Mondays, we normally will discuss material in two recent textbooks (Gotelli & Graves 1996, Hilborn & Mangel 1997). These readings will be complemented by 1-2 recent original research or synthesis papers from leading ecological journals. Together, these readings will be used to illustrate how ecologists use data from specific and idiosyncratic experiments to derive general, predictive theories of processes that regulate distribution and abundance of living organisms. Through their interactions, organisms create bounded ecosystems, with internal, definable structure, and measurable function. Students unfamiliar with the basic mathematics needed by ecologists are encouraged to consult Gotelli (1998).
General Requirements: You are expected to:
Details on each of these expectations can be found by linking to their descriptive pages. Use the Syllabus Index on your left to navigate through these pages
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