Biology 2200 Fall 2008
Biology 2200
PRINCIPLES OF ECOLOGY
Fall 2008
Course Outline
This course examines the relationships between organisms and their environments from a
number of perspectives. We first examine the relationships between organisms and their
physical environment, and then study their contributions to energy flow, trophic structure,
and the cycling of matter within ecosystems. Next we deal with how organisms adapt to
varying environments from the perspective of evolutionary ecology. We then present the
principles of population ecology, population regulation and the interactions between
populations within communities, and examine how these principles are used in
conservation, pest control and other areas of environmental management. Finally, we
address the issue of economic development and its impact on global ecological processes.
Lecture:
Tuesday/Thursday, 9:25 to 10:40 am, Room C610
Lecturers:
Dr. T.Andrew.Hurly
D868, 329-2320, email: hurly@uleth.ca
Office Hours: by appointment
Dr. Joseph B. Rasmussen
E850, 382-7182, email:
joseph.rasmussen@uleth.ca
Office Hours: by appointment
Website:
The url for Biology 2200 is:
http://classes.uleth.ca/200803/biol2200a/
Lecture Power Points will be posted on the Bio 2200 web page.
Text:
R.E. Ricklefs, The Economy of Nature 5th Edition. Freeman
Lecture
Lecture Power Points will be posted on the Bio 2200 web page.
General info: General announcements will be made in class or will be sent by email to
the class list. If you do not use the U of L assigned email address, arrange
for email sent to the @uleth.ca address to be forwarded to the address you
do use. You can arrange to forward mail by going to:
http://www.uleth.ca/it/desktop/account.htm
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Biology 2200 Fall 2008
Laboratory:
Lab coordinator: Michael Robinson,
Office E784, ph. 329-2321, Email: michael.robinson@uleth.ca
See lab manual for lab times and lab instructors.
Lab Manual: Available on web site
http://classes.uleth.ca/200803/biol2200a/ Once at the web site, select
Lab Outline.
Grade Composition:
Lecture 60%, Lab 40%
LECTURE exams will be administered through WEBCT
Lecture Exam #1 Week of Oct.6
20%
Lecture Exam #2 Week of Nov.3 20%
Lecture Exam #3 Final Exam Wk 20%
60%
Lectures 1-8
Lectures 9-16
Lectures 17-26
LABORATORY: 40%, See lab manual for detailed mark breakdown
LECTURE OUTLINE:
Biology 2200. Principles of Ecology
Introduction—Rasmussen and Hurly
Lecture 1, Thurs Sept 4: The concept of order in Nature—Ch.1
What is ecology about?
The system concept and connectedness
The interplay between the physical and the living world
The tension between dynamic processes and natural order:
Biological diversity, Evolution, and the changing world
How humans are changing the world:
The Organism and the Physical Environment--Rasmussen
Lecture 2, Tues. Sept 9: Life and the Physical Environment, Ch 2
How organisms interact with the physical world
All organisms contain water and water contains dissolved nutrients
Light is the primary source of energy for life
Lecture 3, Thurs. Sept 11: Adapting to a Changing Environment Ch 3,4
How plants and animals respond to variation in the physical environment,
Homeostasis and Adaptation
How organisms control their energy balance—thermodynamic laws
Lecture 4, Tues. Sept 16 Biomes and the Physical Environment (Ch.4,5)
Global patterns in temperature and precipitation
Seasonal cycles and their importance for organisms
Climate and the Biome concept
Evolutionary Ecology-Hurly
Lecture 5 Thurs. Sept 18, Evolution and adaptation/Behavioral ecology, Ch 9
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Biology 2200 Fall 2008
Adaptations to life in varying environments
Adaptations permit organisms to maximize their fitness
Optimality modeling, costs vs benefits
Modelling foraging using the optimality approach
Optimal patch use model, and the marginal value theorem
Foraging under the risk of predation
Lecture 6 Tues Sept 23, Life-history evolution, Ch 10
David Lack and the theory of clutch size in birds
Williams and the trade-off between present reproduction and future survival
Resources can be allocated to reproduction or to growth and future survival
The effect of the survivorship curve
The age at first reproduction increases with life-span
Optimal reproductive effort varies inversely with adult survival
In an unpredictable environment you hedge or bets
Why does sensescence evolve?
Lecture 7 Thurs Sept 25 Sex and Mating systems, Ch 11
The evolution of sex and sex ratios
How social insects control their sex ratios in response to mate competition
The evolution of mating systems
The importance of parental care
The ESS model of parental investment
Lekking behaviour in birds
Sexual selection and the evolution of elaborate courtship behaviour
Mating systems in plants
Lecture 8 Tues Sept 30: The evolution of social behaviour, Ch 12.
The costs and benefits of group living
Dominance hierarchies and territoriality
How can altruistic behaviour evolve?
Group selection, kin selection and reciprocal altruism
Maynard-Smith and game theory in ecology—the hawk/dove game
Parent offspring conflict and optimization of parental investment
Hamilton and The problem of social insects:
Raising your siblings vs having your own offspring
Population Ecology—Hurly
Lecture 9-10, Thurs. Oct 2,Tues,Oct 7: Structure and Growth of Populations, Ch 13
Populations in space and time
Distribution and abundance?
Movement of individuals among populations: the metapopulation
Genetic variability within populations
Exponential and geometric population growth
Per capita rate of birth and death
Age structured populatin growth; the life table
Lecture 11. Thurs Oct 9, : Population Regulation, Ch 14
Pearl, and the logistic equation, density dependent regulation
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Biology 2200 Fall 2008
Modelling the human population
Evidence for density dependent regulation in animal populations
Density dependence in plants
Andrewarth and Birch and density independent factors
Lecture 12 Tues. Oct 14: Population fluctuation in space and time Ch 15
Charles Elton and the Lynx-hare cycle
Cycles versus eratic population fluctuation
Population cycles in the discrete time logistic equation
Metapopulation modeling
Interacting local populations, the balance between extinction and recolonization
The Levins model, and the concept of patch occupancy
Application of metapopulation concepts to Landscape ecology and conservation
Population Interactions--Rasmussen
Lecture 13 Thurs. Oct 16: Predator-Prey Interactions Ch. 17-18
Predators have adaptations for exploiting prey
Prey have adaptions for defense
Parasite adaptations and parasite-host systems
Dynamics of consumer-resource interactions
Functional responses
Stability in predator/prey systems
Oscillations and stability
Consumers can limit resource populations
Lecture 14-15 Tues Oct 21, Thurs Oct 23,: The theory of competition, Ch. 19
Volterra and Gause and the competitive exclusion principle
Population regulation by intra vs interspecific competition
Using systems of logistic equations to model competitive interactions
Equilibrium in competition models and criteria for coexistence
Graphical analysis of coexistence, competitive isoclines
Examples of competition in nature
Predator mediated coexistence
Lecture 16 Tues. Oct 28: Coevolution and Mutualism, Ch 20
Antagonists evolve in response to each other
Coevolution between consumers and resources
Evolutionary equilibrium
The importance of mutualistic relationships in the natural world
Trophic, defense, and dispersive mutualisms and their importance to ecosystems
Community Ecology--Hurly
Lecture 17-18 Thurs Oct 30Tues Nov 4: Communities structure and development Ch. 21-22
Species abundance relationships in natural communities
Species richness and diversity
Species/Area relationships
Food web analysis
Ecological succession in communities
Primary succession
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Biology 2200 Fall 2008
The communities response to disturbance, secondary succession
The climax as a steady state
Lecture 19, Thurs Nov 6 Coexistence and Biodiversity, Ch. 23
Patterns in biodiversity, the importance of latitude and productivity
The island biogeography model of community diversity
Why is there more diversity in the tropics?
The theory of the ecological niche and the coexistence of diverse assemblages
The intermediate disturbance hypothesis
Lecture 20 Tues Nov 11:Biogeography Ch 24
The history of life and the geological time scale
Biogeographic regions of the world
Climate change and catastrophes
Convergent evolutions in similar but separate environments
Processes that affect biodiversity
Lecture 21, Thurs Nov 13. Extinction, Conservation and Restoration of populations, Ch 25
Types and causes of extinction
Factors that effect the risk of extinction
Conservation ecology
Population viability modelling and the recovery plan
Genetics and conservation, captive breeding
Restoration and the reintroduction of species, examples
Ecosystem Ecology--Rasmussen
Lecture 22-23, Tues. Nov 18, Thurs Nov 20 : Ecosystem Energetics Ch. 6
What is an Ecosystem and how did ecologists arrive at this concept?
Tansley, Elton and Lotka and their contributions to the Ecosystem concept
Lindeman and Hutchinson—the trophic-dynamic concept of the ecosystem
Eugene Odum—1o & 2o secondary production
Trophic links and energetic efficiencies
Lecture 24, Thurs. Nov 25 Element cycling in the Ecosystem, Ch 7
How living processes affect the cycling of matter
Elemental cycles and how humans are changing them
The cycling of nitrogen and its importance for agriculture.
The water cycle
The cycling of C, N, P and S and their importance to ecosystems
Lecture 25, Nov 27:, Nutrient Regeneration in Ecosystems Ch. 8
Decomposition & cycling of matter in ecosystems
The importance of oxygen and redox potentials, and microbial processes
Nutrient regeneration and soil processes.
The effect of latitude/climate on nutrient cycling
Nutrient regeneration in aquatic ecosystems
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Biology 2200 Fall 2008
Lecture 26-27 Tues Dec 2, Thurs Dec. 4. Economic Development and Global Ecology
Ch 26—Rasmussen
Ecological principles and environmental policy
Human activities threaten ecological processes
Overexploitation of the world’s renewable and non-renewable resources
Toxic substances and bioaccumulation
Introductions of exotic species
Odum and the concept of ecological economics and ecosystem services
The human population and the biosphere.
Course Goals
The following are some basic goals that each student should accomplish:
1 Develop a basic understanding of:
2.
The organism as the fundamental unit of ecology
Interactions between organisms
Interactions of organisms with their environment
Adaptations of organisms with their environment
The contribution of evolution to organismal diversity
The importance of biological diversity to the functioning of ecological systems
The structures and functions of ecological systems
- The two-way relationship between pattern and process in ecological systems
Understand the ecological foundations of current environmental issues.
Grading
Exams and assignments provide a way for instructors to assess the degree to which each
student has accomplished the course goals. The goal of education is learning, not the
attainment of certain grades. Exams and assignments are means by which you can
demonstrate to instructors that you have learned the course material and understand the
principles of ecology. Marks are a way to represent this degree of learning on a standard
scale.
Letter grade conversions (approximate)
Percent
Letter
91-100
A+
86-90
A
Excellent
80-85
A77-79
B+
74-76
B
Good
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Biology 2200 Fall 2008
70-73
67-69
64-66
60-63
55-59
50-54
49 or less
BC+
C
CD+
D
F
Satisfactory
Poor
Minimal Pass
Failure
Student Conduct
Unless otherwise indicated, all assignments and exams in this course must be original
work completed by individual students. Academic offences (plagiarism and cheating) or
non-academic offences committed by students in the context of this course will be dealt
with according to the policy of the University of Lethbridge as indicated in the 2008/09
Calendar.
Missed Exam and Assignment Policy
Missed exams and assignments earn a grade of zero. Students who miss exams or
assignments will be allowed to perform make-up work only if they provide documented
evidence of an acceptable excuse (e.g. note from physician). Do not make travel
arrangements that conflict with exams, assignments or the final exam schedule!
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