The content and format of this syllabus have been altered from the original

E&EB 220a: General Ecology

Fall 2008

Contact Information

Prof. Leo Buss
OML 326

Prof. John Cooley
OML 401

TA: Kim Komatsu
OML 426

Lectures: MWF 10:30-11:20, ESC 110
Sections: Th 4:00-4:50, OML 201
Textbook: Gotelli. A primer of ecology, 4th ed.

Grading

25% - Exam 1
25% - Exam 2
25% - Exam 3
25% - Lecture and section participation and assignments

Make-up exams will either be oral or cumulative and held during reading week.

Schedule

September 3 Advice to an inquiring organism
5 Demography 1: Life insurance for plants and animals Gotelli Ch. 3
8 Demography 2: L(x)B(x) tables
10 Demography 3: From L(x)B(x) tables to population growth
12 Advanced Demography 1: Life history theory - Why we die
15 Advanced Demography 2: Life history theory - Iteroparity and Semelparity
17 Advanced Demography 3: Life history theory - Sex ratios
19 Population Growth 1: The discrete logistic Gotelli Ch. 1-2
22 Population Growth 2: The continuous logistic
24 Population Growth 3: Real populations
26 HOUR EXAM
29 Systems thinking and the meaning of stability
October1 Population ecology 1: Logistic model of competition Gotelli Ch. 5
3 Population ecology 2: Competition in lab populations
6 Population ecology 3: Connell's barnacles
8 Population ecology 4: A model of predation and some variants Gotelli Ch. 6
10 Population ecology 5: Nicholson's blowflies
13 Population ecology 6: Foraging tactics
15 Population ecology 7: A model of mutualism
17 From population systems to communities
20 Behavioral Ecology (Foraging; diet choice) Handout
22 Behavioral Ecology (Foraging; patch residency) Handout
24 Autecology, Synecology, and units of study
27 Behavioral Ecology (Signals) Bradbury and Vehrencamp 2000
29 Succession (verbal models) Gotelli Ch. 8
31 HOUR EXAM
November3 Succession (Markov Model) Gotelli Ch. 8
5 Abundance and Diversity Gotelli Ch. 9
7 Biogeography (Islands) Gotelli Ch. 7
12 Biogeography and Food Webs Leibold 1995
14 Niches and Community Models Macarthur 1955
17 Patterns of Diversity Hubbell 2001, Janzen 1967
19 Metapopulations Gotelli Ch. 4
21 Ecosystems and Biogeochemistry Likens 2004
December1 Coevolution, invasives, etc. Facon et al. 2006
3 Resource Management Gilpin and Soule 1986
5 Evolutionary ecology Losos and Schluter 2000
17 EXAM