Fall 2006
(Syllabus Revised: 23 August 2006)
Biol 3131: Ecology
Instructor: Dr. Peter H. Wyckoff
Office: Science 1375
Phone: x6347
E-Mail: wyckoffp@mrs.umn.edu
Web Page: http://cda.mrs.umn.edu/~wyckoffp/
Class: MW 1:00-2:05
Lab M 2:15-5:15
Lab T 1:00-4:00
Lab W 2:15-5:15
Lab Th 1:00-4:00
Prerequisite: Biol 2101
Office hours: T 9:00-10:00, Th 9:00-11:00, F 11:00-noon and by appointment
“Contrary to popular belief, ecology is neither a form of Zen Buddhism nor a wing of the Democratic Party. Ecology is a science.”
Dr. Daniel Livingstone
African Paleoecologist
The science of ecology informs (or should inform) many of
the environmental issues facing society today.
Ecology is a relatively young science, growing out of natural history to
become a full-fledged discipline in the 20th century. Ecology examines the forces that shape
populations, biological communities and ecosystems. This course will introduce you to the breadth
of modern ecology: from animal behavior to the epidemiology of AIDS, from
global warming to the impacts of exotic invaders on community composition. The lab portion of this course will introduce
you to a variety of ecological techniques, and it will also give you a hands on
tour of many of the community types found in
Texts:
Flannery, T. 2005. The
Weather Makers. Atlantic Monthly Press:
Ricklefs, R. 2007. The
Economy of Nature (5th ed. update). Freeman:
Reserved readings (more may be added later):
Cohen, J. (2003). "Human population: the next half century." Science 302: 1172-1175.
Emery, N. and N. Clayton (2004). "The mentality of crows: convergent evolution of intelligence in corvids and apes." Science 306: 1903-1907.
Enserink, M. (2004). "Can the war on locusts be won?" Science 306: 1880-1882.
Erickson, G., P. J. Currie, B. Inouye and A. Winn (2006). "Tyrannosaur life tables: an example of nonavian dinosaur population biology." Science 313: 213-216.
Frank, K. et al. (2005). "Trophic cascades in a formerly cod-dominated ecosystem." Science 308: 1621-1623.
Hansen, B., S. Osterhaus, D. Quadfasel, W. Turrell (2004). Already the day after tomorrow? Science 305: 953-954.
Garnett, G. P. and E. C. Holmes (1996). "The ecology of emergent infectious disease." BioScience 46(2): 127-135.
Grossman, D. 2004. Spring forward. Scientific American 290(1): 84-91.
Kashefi, K. and D. Lovley (2003). "Extending the upper temperature limit for life." Science 301: 934.
Ostfeld, R., C. Jones, and J. Wolff (1996). Of mice and mast. BioScience 46: 323-330.
Roughgarden, J., M. Oishi and E. Akcay (2006). "Reproductive social behavior: cooperative games to replace sexual selection." Science 311: 965-969.
Silk, J. (2006). "Who are more helpful, humans or chimpanzees?" Science 311: 1248-1249.
Umina, P. A., A. R. Weeks and e. al. (2005). "A rapid shift in a classic clinal pattern in Drosophila reflecting climate change." Science 308: 691-693.
Vitousek, P. M.; Ehrlich, P. R., Ehrlich, A. H., Matson, P. A. (1986). Human appropriation of the products of photosynthesis. BioScience 36: 368-373.
West, P. (2005). "The lion's mane." American Scientist 93: 226-235.
Tentative Course Schedule
|
Date |
Topic |
|
|
|
1 |
Aug 28 |
Intro: Why premeds should care about Ecology Pre-test (not graded) |
Chpt. 1, Ostfeld et al. 1996, Enserink 2004 |
|
2 |
Aug 30 |
Pre-meds and Ecology II |
|
|
Sept. 4 is Labor Day—No Class |
|
||
|
3 |
Sept. 6 |
Climate and biomes |
Chpt. 4 |
|
4 |
Sept. 11 |
Climate and biomes (continued) |
Chpt. 5 |
|
5 |
Sept. 13 |
How individuals respond to the environment I |
Chpts. 2 and 3 |
|
6 |
Sept. 18 |
How individuals respond to the environment II |
Kasefi and Lovley 2003 |
|
7 |
Sept. 20 |
Tolerating fluctuating environments |
Chpt. 9, Grossman 2004 |
|
8 |
Sept. 25 |
Intro to the forest and Pete’s research |
|
|
9 |
Sept. 27 |
The climate changes I Term Paper Topic Due |
Hansen et al. 2004 |
|
10 |
Oct. 2 |
EXAM I |
|
|
11 |
Oct. 4 |
The climate changes II |
|
|
12 |
Oct. 9 |
Environmental change drives evolution |
Chpt. 16, Umina et al. 2005 |
|
13 |
Oct. 11 |
Energy and nutrients in ecosystems I Book Review Due by Oct 13 |
Chpts. 6 and 7 |
|
October 16 is Fall Break—No Class |
|
||
|
14 |
Oct. 18 |
Energy and nutrients in ecosystems II |
|
|
15 |
Oct. 23 |
Trade-offs in biological organisms |
Chpt. 10 |
|
16 |
Oct. 25 |
How to reproduce? |
Chpt. 11, Roughgarden et al 2006 |
|
17 |
Oct. 30 |
Families, behavior and social systems I: Should you be nice to your mother-in-law? Term Paper Due |
Chpt. 12, Silk 2006 |
|
18 |
Nov. 1 |
Families, behavior and social systems II |
Erickson et al. 2004 |
|
19 |
Nov. 6 |
Focus on charismatic African megafauna |
West 2005 |
|
20 |
Nov. 8 |
Population growth and regulation |
Chpts. 14-15, Erickson et al. 2006 |
|
21 |
Nov. 13 |
EXAM II |
|
|
22 |
Nov. 15 |
Human demography Oral Presentation Topic Due |
Cohen 2003 |
|
23 |
Nov. 20 |
The human impact |
Vitousek et al. 1986 |
|
24 |
Nov. 22 |
Species interactions Term Paper Revisions Due |
Chpts. 17-18, Frank et al. 2005 |
|
25 |
Nov. 27 |
Disease ecology |
Garnett and Holmes 1996 |
|
26 |
Nov. 29 |
Community structure and development |
Chpt. 21 |
|
27 |
Dec. 4 |
Community disturbance |
Chpt. 22 |
|
28 |
Dec. 6 |
Biodiversity |
Chpt. 23 |
|
29 |
Dec. 11 |
Exotic species and their impacts |
|
|
30 |
Dec. 13 |
Wrap-up and review, Post test (not graded) |
|
Final Exam
Thurs, Dec. 21, 11:00-1:00
Lab Schedule
1. Aug. 28 Mark-recapture study***
2. Sept. 4 NO LAB—LABOR DAY
3. Sept. 11 Glacial Lakes Field Trip***
4. Sept. 18 Wetlands Office Field Trip***
5. Sept. 25
6. Oct. 2
7. Oct. 9 Aquatic community field trip***
8. Oct. 16 NO LAB—FALL BREAK
9. Oct. 23 Forest Sampling Study, part III***
10. Oct. 30 Fun with population biology
(Meet to discuss paper revisions and forest study project)
11. Nov. 6 Fun with competition and predation
(Meet to discuss paper revisions and forest study project)
12. Nov. 13 Presentation of
13. Nov. 20 NO LAB—THANKSGIVING BREAK
(Except Monday Lab, which will meet Nov. 22, not Nov. 15)
14. Nov. 27 Fun with epidemiology
15. Dec. 4 Oral Presentation of Ecological Literature
16. Dec. 11 Oral Presentation of Ecological Literature
On days marked with a “***” come dressed to go outside. Do not wear shorts. Wear socks. Bug spray, sunscreen and drinking water can all come in handy.
Lab attendance
You cannot make-up labs without an excused absence. My first choice if you miss your lab is for you to attend another section during the same week’s activity. For example, if you know you have a sports event during your normal Wednesday lab time, make arrangements with me to attend Tuesday or Thursday lab. If you absolutely cannot attend a week’s lab activity, alternate assignments will be arranged.
Grades
Participation 25
Book Review 75
Lab assignments 150
Term Paper 150
Oral Presentation 100
Exam 1 150
Exam 2 150
Final Exam 200
---------------------------
Overall Total 1000
At worst: A = 90-100%; B = 80-90%; C = 70-80%; D = 60-70%; F
< 60%.
I may curve up, but I will not curve down.
Grade expectations
Satisfactory work demonstrating a simple, but largely complete, grasp of the course material will receive a “C.” An “A” or a “B” requires you to demonstrate more thought and sensitivity to nuance.
Partial credit on problems and calculations will only be given if you show your work. If I explicitly ask you to show your work on a homework or exam problem, then a mere answer is not enough (even a correct answer)—you must show me how you reached your answer.
On average, this course should require 12 hours a week of work (4 credits* 3 hours a week per credit). That means that you should expect to work an average of 6-7 hours a week outside of class. If the work associated with this class appears to be either too light or excessive, please let me know.
Policy on incomplete grades
In accordance with University policy, incomplete grades will only be awarded under extraordinary circumstances. Normally, I will only consider awarding an incomplete in cases where illness or family emergency cause a student to be unable to complete the very last assignments in a course (end of the semester projects, final exams, etc.). You can only be eligible for an incomplete if your average on all graded, completed work is greater than an F.
Attendance policy
Lecture attendance is not mandatory, but I will take attendance and deduct 5
participation points for each unexcused lecture absence. Tests will be based primarily on material
covered in class. Fifteen points will
be deducted for each unexcused lab absence.
Excused absences will be granted for family emergencies,
illness, varsity athletic events, and other official university functions. Written documentation for excused absences
must be submitted and can be obtained from health services or the chancellor’s
office.
Late work policy
Unless otherwise specified, assignments should be turned in at the beginning of class on the day they are due (though they will not be counted as late if in by 5:00). Late assignments lose 20% of their value for each day or portion of a day they are late (not counting weekends). For example, if an assignment is due on a Friday, and you turn it in Tuesday, the assignment is 2 days late and thus only worth 60% of its original value.
Policy on Academic Honesty
I have no tolerance for cheating or plagiarism. Any paper, assignment or examination showing signs of academic dishonesty will be investigated. If I suspect dishonesty, I will notify the student in question that we must meet to discuss the matter. Failure to respond to a request for such a meeting will be taken as an admission of guilt. The standard penalty for dishonesty will be a grade of “0” on the assignment in question. In egregious cases, I will give an “F” for the course grade. In accordance with University policy, I will report any penalties levied to the vice chancellor for student affairs. Penalized students then have the right to appeal.
Any work submitted by a student must be written in his or her own words (i.e. you cannot simply copy or paraphrase textbooks, other written sources, or work submitted by other students). In the case of group work submitted with multiple names, I will assume that all have contributed equally. For homework and problem sets, I encourage students to work together, but that cannot mean that one student simply copies from another.
I encourage you to save paper by printing typed assignments on the back of previously used paper. If you do this, I ask that you draw an “X” through the side I don’t need to read. Alternatively, print your assignments on both sides of fresh paper. Spreadsheets and graphs can be sent to me via e-mail, and if possible, I will refrain from printing them at all.
Extra credit policy
I may periodically offer extra credit as an incentive to participate in activities that are related to class, but not otherwise required—public lectures, service projects, etc. Extra credit cannot be used to raise your final course grade more than one step—i.e. a C- to a C or a B+ to an A-. Thus, any extra credit earned beyond 40-50 points will enrich your soul, but cannot enrich your grade.
Disability Accommodations
I will make reasonable accommodations for students with disabilities or special needs upon request. Please contact the Disability Services office, 589-6163, Room 362 Briggs Library to discuss accommodation needs.