Biology 2200 Fall 2009
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. 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 examine energy flow, trophic structure, and the cycling of matter within ecosystems and then relate these concepts to 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
WE1004, 329-2320, email: hurly@uleth.ca
Office Hours: by appointment
Website :
Dr. Joseph B. Rasmussen
WE1050, 382-7182, email: joseph.rasmussen@uleth.ca
Office Hours: by appointment
The url for Biology 2200 is: http://classes.uleth.ca/200903/biol2200a/
Lecture Power Points will be posted on the Bio 2200 web page.
Text : R.E. Ricklefs, The Economy of Nature 5 th 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 2009
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 Blackboard (WebCT)
Grade Composition : Lecture 60%, Lab 40%
LECTURE exams will be administered through WEBCT
Lecture Exam #1 Week of Oct.12 20% Lectures 1-8
60%
Lecture Exam #2 Week of Nov.9 20% Lectures 9-16
Lecture Exam #3 Final Exam Wk 20% Lectures 17-26
LABORATORY: 40%, See lab manual for detailed mark breakdown
LECTURE OUTLINE:
Lecture 1, Thurs Sept 10: 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:
Lecture 2, Tues. Sept 15: 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 17: 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 22 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
Lecture 5 Thurs. Sept 24, Evolution and adaptation/Behavioral ecology, Ch 9
Adaptations to life in varying environments
Adaptations permit organisms to maximize their fitness
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Biology 2200 Fall 2009
Optimality modeling, costs vs. benefits
Modeling foraging using the optimality approach
Optimal patch use model, and the marginal value theorem
Foraging under the risk of predation
Lecture 6 Tues Sept 29, 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 senescence evolve?
Lecture 7 Thurs Oct 1, 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 Oct 6: 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
Lecture 9-10, Thurs. Oct 8,Tues,Oct 13: 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 population growth; the life table
Lecture 11. Thurs Oct 15, Population Regulation, Ch 14
Pearl, and the logistic equation, density dependent regulation
Modeling the human population
Evidence for density dependent regulation in animal populations
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Biology 2200 Fall 2009
Density dependence in plants
Andrewartha and Birch and density independent factors
Lecture 12 Tues. Oct 20: 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
Lecture 13 Thurs. Oct 22: Predator-Prey Interactions Ch. 17-18
Predators have adaptations for exploiting prey
Prey have adaptations 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 27, Thurs Oct 29, 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 Nov 3: 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
Lecture 17-18 Thurs Nov 5,Tues Nov 10: 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
The community response to disturbance, secondary succession
The climax as a steady state
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Biology 2200 Fall 2009
Lecture 19, Thurs Nov 12 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 17: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 19. 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
Lecture 22-23, Tues. Nov 24, Thurs Nov 26 : 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—1 o & 2 o secondary production
Trophic links and energetic efficiencies
Lecture 24, Tues. Dec 1, 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, Thurs Dec 3:, 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
Lecture 26-27 Tues Dec 8, Thurs Dec. 10. Economic Development and Global Ecology
Ch 26—
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Biology 2200 Fall 2009
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:
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Ecological systems: the biosphere is a nested hierarchy of systems each containing subsystems
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The organism as the fundamental unit in ecological systems; organisms constantly evolve in response to a changing physical and biological environment
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Ecosystem function as the result of organisms interacting with each other and with the physical and chemical environment
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Life histories and mating systems as evolutionary adaptations
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Populations of organisms and how they are regulated by feedback processes arising from biological interactions
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Ecological systems as different from physical or engineered systems because their components are constantly evolving and adapting to their ecological role.
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Evolution as the source of biological diversity
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Biological diversity as a source of increasing ecosystem complexity
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Structure and function as inter-related aspects of ecological systems
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The reciprocal relationships between pattern and process; patterns in nature reflect underlying processes, and processes in turn generate patterns.
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Environmental issues as the outcome of human ecological success; humans have become so successful at resource exploitation and substitution, and adapting to a changing environment, that we may be threatening our own survival.
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
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Biology 2200 Fall 2009 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
86-90
A+
A Excellent
80-85
77-79
74-76
70-73
67-69
64-66
A-
B+
B
B-
C+
C
Good
Satisfactory
60-63
55-59
50-54
49 or less
C-
D
D
F
+ 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 2009/10
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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