CONSERVATION BIOLOGY OF WILDLIFE
FW 563, 3 credits
Fall 2011
Instructor:
Lecture: MF, 11:00 - 11:50; Peavy Hall 101
Recitation: W, 11:00 - 12:50; Peavy Hall 101
Dan Roby, Professor
Department of Fisheries and Wildlife
Office: 130 Nash Hall; Phone: 541-737-1955
Email: daniel.roby@oregonstate.edu
http://oregonstate.edu/robylab/index.html
Office Hours: By appointment or immediately after class
Required Texts: (These texts are available at the campus bookstore)
Groom, M.J., G.K. Meffe, and C. R. Carroll. 2006. Principles of Conservation Biology, 3rd
Edition. Sinauer Associates, Sunderland, MA. 779 pp.
Wilson, E.O. 2002. The Future of Life. Random House, New York. 189 pp.
Additional Reading:
Caughley, G., and A. Gunn. 1996. Conservation Biology in Theory and Practice.
Blackwell Science, Cambridge, MA.
Ehrenfeld, D. (ed.) 1995. Readings from Conservation Biology: To Preserve
Biodiversity – An Overview. Blackwell Science, Cambridge, MA. (out of print)
Ehrenfeld, D. (ed.) 1995. Readings from Conservation Biology: Wildlife and
Forests. Blackwell Science, Cambridge, MA. (out of print)
Soulé, M. E. (ed.). 1986. Conservation Biology: The Science of Scarcity and Diversity.
Sinauer Associates, Sunderland, MA. 584 pp. (out of print)
Conservation Biology, the flagship journal of the Society for Conservation Biology, Vols. 123. (first published in 1986)
Conservation magazine (formerly Conservation in Practice), published by the Society for
Conservation Biology. (1st published in 2000)
Expected Student Learning Outcomes:
1.
2.
3.
4.
Obtain an overview of the expanding field of Conservation Biology
Understand the theory behind the main tenants of Conservation Biology
Comprehend the concept of biodiversity from the genetic to the ecosystem level
Understand the fundamental methods and techniques of Conservation Biology
research
5. Be able to relate the science of Conservation Biology to the other components
of Conservation Management (e.g., economics, philosophy, politics, sociology)
SCHEDULE OF TOPICS
WEEK OF:
TOPICS
_______________________________________________________________________________
Sept. 26
Course Overview, Defining Conservation Biology; Role of Values and Ethics
Oct. 3
Conservation at the Species Level; Global Biodiversity
Oct. 10
Extinction, Loss of Biodiversity; Demographic Processes in Conservation
Oct. 17
Risks to Small Populations; Management of Genetic Diversity
Oct. 24
Community-level Conservation - Keystone Species
Oct. 28,
Friday
Oct. 31
Community Conservation - Interactions, Disturbance; Invasions, Exotics, and
Non-indigenous Species
Nov. 7
Habitat Fragmentation; Conservation Reserve Design
Nov. 14
Conservation Management Principles; Conservation Management Applications
Nov. 21
Ecological Restoration, Sustainable Development
Nov. 25,
Friday
Nov. 28
Role of Policy-making, Climate Change; Conservation Challenges
Dec. 5
TBD
Mid-term Exam
No Lecture - Thanksgiving Holiday
Final Examination a
_______________________________________________________________________________
2
a
cumulative, although more emphasis on material from second part of course
Calculation of Final Course Grades:
Students registered for FW 563 Conservation Biology of Wildlife must make an
oral presentation in class (see below) and take the Mid-term and Final exams.
Attendance at weekly lecture/recitation sessions, participation in class
discussions, and preparation of questions on assigned papers for recitation (see
below) are also required.
The Mid-term and Final exams will cover topics presented in lecture/recitation
and from the required readings. Both exams will be in class, and the Final Exam
will be on a date and time yet to be determined. There will be no "make-ups" or
taking the Final Exam before the appointed date and time, so make your holiday
plans accordingly.
Points
Percentage
Mid-term Exam
Individual Presentation
100 pts.
150 pts.
20%
30%
Questions for Recitation
Participation in Class
Final Exam
50 pts.
50 pts.
150 pts.
10%
10%
30%
TOTAL
500 pts.
100%
Students auditing the class will not be required to take the exams or make a presentation
to the class, but will be required to attend lectures and recitation and submit questions for
discussion if they wish to receive audit credit.
Recitation:
Recitation is for two hours on Wednesdays, 11:00 – 12:50. During the first part of
the course, recitation is designed to promote class inquiry into topics and issues of import
to Conservation Biologists. During the latter part of the course, recitation provides an
opportunity for each student to make a synoptic presentation on a topic of their choosing
to the rest of the class.
Presentation Guidelines:
3
Student presentations should focus on a topic within the field of Conservation
Biology rather than a specific published paper. The purpose of the presentations is to
provide you and your classmates with a more detailed appreciation for the topic than will
be provided in the lecture portion of the class. The presentation will also provide each
student with additional experience in planning, organizing, and presenting scientific
information orally. In that spirit, I request that you select a topic and plan your
presentation to address principles of Conservation Biology, rather than a particular case
study. If you choose to present a case study, mold it in a fashion such that principles
rather than specifics are emphasized.
Student presentations will be scheduled during Wednesday recitations, and there
will be three presentations per recitation session.
Oral Presentation:
As a presenter, your tasks are as follows:
• By Wednesday, 5 October, submit to the instructor a brief written description of
the topic of your presentation, along with citations for two pertinent
references (published papers, book chapters, etc.). The deadline for
submission of your topic and reference citations is mid-week of the 2nd
week of the term, so you should promptly begin the process of selecting a
topic, searching for relevant references, and defining the boundaries of the
topic. For example, topics like “Conservation Genetics” or “Conservation
Reserve Design” are too broad. Topics like “Conservation Genetics of Hairynosed Wombats” or “Potential Boundaries of a Yellowstone Basin
Conservation Reserve” are too narrow. If you are uncertain about the topic
for your presentation, see the instructor after class before Wednesday, 5
October to discuss your concerns.
• By Friday, 7 October, each student will be notified of when they are
scheduled to make their oral presentation. This leaves less than 3 weeks until
the first student presentations (26 October). Presentations in this first group
(October 26) will receive a 15 pt. bonus and presentations the following
Wednesday (November 2) will receive a 5 pt. bonus.
• On the Wednesday prior to the date of your presentation, give the instructor one
primary reference on the topic of your presentation so that it can be read by
other class members prior to your presentation. The reference can be a
hardcopy for placement on reserve in the Fisheries and Wildlife library
(Nash 104A) or, preferably, a PDF file that can be posted on Blackboard. Try
to select a review article or paper that will be of general interest to fellow
graduate students in Conservation Biology; avoid book chapters that exceed
40 pages of text.
• On the day of your presentation, provide a 25-minute synopsis of the topic,
4
followed by fielding questions from other class members and group
discussion (see below). You should use visual aids as part of your
presentation (i.e., PowerPoint slideshow). The instructor will provide a brief
critique of the presentation to each student presenter.
• Each student presenter will submit a list of the references used in developing
their presentation. The list of references will be due two weeks after the
presentation for those students presenting on Oct. 26 or Nov. 2; one week
after the presentation for those students presenting on Nov. 9, 16, or 23; and
on the day of the presentation for students presenting on Nov. 30.
As a student participant at a student presentation, your tasks for each presentation are as
follows:
• Read the paper(s) selected by each student on the topic of their presentation
before their presentation.
• Prepare two written questions pertinent to the topic and the primary reference
that was assigned the previous week, and provide them to the instructor
before recitation. These questions can be posed to the presenter during
recitation. Two questions are requested such that a back-up question is
available should one of your questions be posed by a classmate. These
questions should be general in nature, rather than specific to the
methodology employed in the selected paper.
• Participate in recitations by asking your written questions of the presenter and
taking part in discussions following each student presentation.
Suggestions for the oral presentation:
• Use PowerPoint.
• Don’t try to present too many slides for the time available (rule of thumb: 1
slide/min for data or text slides, 2 slides/min for photo/illustration slides).
• Avoid text-rich slides; use bullets; limit the number of bullets/slide (~ 6); use
another slide if you can’t comfortably fit all bullets on one slide.
• Tell the audience the take-home message three times, first in the introduction,
second during the body of the talk, third in the conclusions.
• Make eye contact with your audience; looking continuously at your notes, the
laptop screen, or the slide screen does not help you engage the audience in
what you are saying.
5
• Run through your entire slide show at least once without interruption to verify
that the length is 25 minutes.
• Tables and figures are good for presenting data or depicting patterns, but
avoid showing axis labels, legends, titles, and footnotes that are too small
to read easily.
• Photos, maps, and diagrams are excellent visual aids, but avoid overloading
any one slide with too many.
• Explain to your audience what they are looking at; don’t expect them to be able
to identify and understand what they are seeing for the first time; walk
them through it.
• Go through your slides to make sure all text is large enough to be legible for
your audience, that the text contrasts sufficiently with the background to
be readily legible, and that no words have been misspelled.
• Try to relax. Giving a presentation to one’s peers is always stressful, but a big
key to a successful presentation is projecting the impression that you’re
enjoying sharing interesting information that you care about with others
(even if you aren’t!). This allows your audience to focus on what you have
to say, instead of empathizing with the stress you are experiencing.
6