Ecological Processes (IBS 8201)
Spring 2007 Syllabus
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IBS 8201 – Ecological Processes
Instructors:
Dr. John Pastor
17 Swenson
726-7001
jpastor@nrri.umn.edu
Dr. Tom Hrabik
11 Swenson
726-7626
thrabik@d.umn.edu
Lectures/Discussion:
1:00 P.M. – 2:50 P.M. Monday in MWAH 191.
Office hours: By appointment after you contact us by email, phone, or in class.
Course Overview: A team-taught course which is an in depth survey of advanced topics in ecological
processes, focusing on body size-scaling relationships and food webs as integrating principles with which
to study nutrient and energy fluxes through ecosystems, animal behavior, species interactions, landscapes,
and other ecological processes.
Requirements:
Class Participation and Discussions: The second hour of each week will be devoted to a lecture
by one of the instructors on the assigned topic. Additional readings will be assigned on that topic.
The first hour of the next week will then be devoted to a discussion of these papers. These
discussions will be led by either the instructors or a student. Your participation and preparation for
these discussions will count for 30% of your grade.
Homework: Working through some calculations is a very good way to understand certain concepts
such as information content, entropy, etc. Biology is not a spectator sport! Periodically a
homework problem will be given to put flesh on some of the mathematical and biological
concepts. The homework in total will count for 10% of your grade.
Paper: You will be required to write a paper demonstrating an application of one or more of the
organizing principles discussed in the course to a biological problem, which will constitute the
bulk of your grade. The paper should rely heavily on current primary literature as source material.
The format of the paper will be that followed by Trends in Ecology and Evolution. You will be
graded on the quality of reasoning and writing of the research paper. Papers are expected to reflect
original thinking in how the topic of the section allows one to integrate across two or more
subdisciplines in biology by synthesizing data and concepts from recent research literature.
The paper will be handled as if it were a paper submitted for publication in a Trends journal. You
will submit an initial draft of the paper sometime before the middle of the semester (the time to be
determined by you and us together). We will act as the Editorial Board of a journal. Each paper
will be given to another student, who will write a review of the paper within 10 days. The student
reviews and our review will then be sent back to each of you. You will then revise the paper
accordingly and also write a letter to the Editorial Board addressing how you took the comments
in the two reviews into account. The grade for this paper, which totals 60% of your grade, is
distributed as follows: initial draft (20%); review of the other paper (15%); response to review and
revised paper (25%).
Ecological Processes (IBS 8201)
Spring 2007 Syllabus
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Schedule (Subject to change): An updated syllabus will be available if changes occur.
Module 1
Jan 28
Ecological Implications of
Body Size
Pastor/Hrabik
Pastor
Feb 4
Pastor
Feb 11
Pastor
Feb 18
Pastor
Feb 25
Pastor
Feb 27
Pastor
Mar 3
Pastor
Mar 10
Pastor
Mar 17
Introduction to course
Allometric principles and
ecological implications of body
size
Allometry of metabolism in
animals
Allometry of temperature
responses
Allometry of ingestion and
excretion, nutrient flux
Allometry of animal movement
Allometry of home range size
and population density
Origins of general scaling laws:
making sense of basic principles
Body Size and Food Webs
Readings
Peters, Ch. 1-2
For discussion: La Barbera 1989
Peters, Ch. 3
For discussion: White and Seymour 2005
Peters, Ch. 5
For discussion: Robinson et al. 1983
Peters, Ch. 7 and 9
For discussion: Hall et al. 2007
Peters, Ch. 6; Purcell 1977
For discussion: Heglund et al. 1974
Peters, Ch. 10
For discussion: Pennycuick 1979
West et al. 1997, McMahon 1973 (McMahon also
discussed in Peters, Ch. 13, pp. 217-219 )
For discussion: Reich et al. 2006a,b, Enquist et al.
2006, Henin 2006
Brown et al. 2007, Cohen et al. 2007
For discussion: Hildrew et al. 2007
Spring Break
Food Webs
Mar 24
Pastor
Food webs: theoretical concepts
Mar 31
Pastor
Food webs: empirical examples
April 7
Hrabik
Food chain length
April 14
Hrabik
Trophic Cascades
April 21
Hrabik
Biomanipulation and food web
management
April 28
Hrabik
May 5
Hrabik
The Biomass Size Spectra
(Introduction)
The Biomass Size Spectra
Pimm Ch. 4
For discussion: MacArthur 1955, Pimm 1979, May
1973
Pimm Ch. 5
For discussion: McNaughton 1977
Pimm Ch. 6
VanderZanden et al. 1999
Post et al. 1999
Carpenter and Kitchell 1987
For discussion: DeMelo et al. 1992, Carpenter and
Kitchell 1992
Rudstam et al. 1993, Lathrop et al. 2002;
For discussion: Krueger and Hrabik 2005, Schindler
2006
Thiebaux and Dickie 1992, 1993
For discussion: Sprules and Goyke 1994
Sprules and Stockwell 1995:
For discussion: Kerr and Dickie 2001
Ecological Processes (IBS 8201)
Spring 2007 Syllabus
Required Texts (other assigned readings to be made available via pdf or on website):
Peters, R. H. 1983. Ecological Implications of Body Size. Cambridge University Press.
Pimm, S. L. 1982. Food Webs. Chapman & Hall.
Important dates:
Date
Feb 4
Feb 18
Mar 24
Apr 7
Apr 14
May 5
What is Due
Identify topic (week) for the discussion sections you will lead
Identify topic of paper
First draft of paper due to Faculty Editors
Editors distribute assigned papers to Reviewers
Return reviews to Faculty Editors
Faculty Editors return reviews and editorial comments to Authors
Final copy of paper due
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