Course Syllabus

Biology 301M — Course Outline

Scaling and the hierarchical structure of biology, levels of approach in biology, domain of ecology, definitions and ground work; anthropocentrism, the importance of wild organisms in pristine natural environments, the urgency of basic ecological research; scientific methodology; models; multiple causality; limiting factors, tolerance limits, the principle of allocation; genetics, natural selection, self- replicating molecular assemblages; units of selection; levels of approach to science, speciation, phylogeny, classification and systematics.

Macroevolution, natural selection and adaptation, the species concept. Origin of life, prokaryotes and eukaryotes, introduction to the diversity of organisms. Domains, traits (and example organisms) of kingdoms [archaebacteria, eubacteria, protists, fungi, plants, animals]. Adaptations, structures, symbiotic relationships, including variations in life cycles

How organisms are classified and why; phylogenetic systematics. One major taxon will be examined in depth (Lizards); we will investigate classification, phylogeny, and biogeography. Evolution will be related to the history of earth (plate tectonics)

History and Biogeography

Self-replicating molecular assemblages, geological past, isotope dating, fossil history, classical biogeography, continental drift

Meteorology

Major determinants of climate, local perturbations, variations in time and space, global weather modification, climate change, global warming, ice melting, sea levels rising, ocean acidification, ocean warming, overfishing, coral bleaching, plastics pollution, impending collapse of marine ecosystems

Climate and Vegetation

Plant life forms and biomes, microclimates, primary production and evapotranspiration, soil formation and primary succession, ecotones, classification of natural communities, aquatic ecosystems

Physiological Ecology

Evolution of physiological optima and tolerance curves, energetics of metabolism and movement; energy budgets and the principle of allocation; adaptation and deterioration of environment; heat budgets and thermal ecology; water economy in desert organisms; other limiting materials; sensory capacities and environmental cues; evolution of adaptive suites, design constraints.

Principles of Population Ecology

Life tables and schedules of reproduction; net reproductive rate and reproductive value; stable age distribution; intrinsic rate of increase; evolution of reproductive tactics; avian clutch size; evolution of old age and death rates; population growth and regulation; Pearl-Verhulst logistic equation; density dependence and independence, fitness and the individual's status in the population; kin selection, reciprocal altruism, parent-offspring conflict, density dependence and independence; r and K selection; population “cycles,” cause and effect; use of space (vagility, home range, territoriality, foraging tactics); evolution of sex; sex ratio; mating systems; sexual selection

Interactions Between Populations

Complex examples of population interactions; indirect interactions; competition theory; competitive exclusion; balance between intraspecific and interspecific competition; evolutionary consequences of competition; laboratory experiments and evidence from nature; character displacement and limiting similarity; future prospects; Predation; predator-prey oscillations; "prudent" predation and optimal yield; theory of predation; functional and numerical responses; selected experiments and observations; evolutionary consequences of predation: predator escape tactics; aspect diversity and escape tactic diversity; coevolution; plant apparency theory; evolution of pollination mechanisms; symbiotic relationships, the human microbiome.

The Role of Phylogenetics in Ecology

Phylogenetic systematics, monophyly vs. paraphyly, rooting trees, independent contrasts, the comparative method, inferring ancestral traits, evolutionary ecomorphology

Community Ecology

Classification of communities; interface between climate and vegetation; plant life forms and biomes; leaf tactics; succession; transition matrices; aquatic systems; macrodescriptors; compartmentation in communities (trophic levels, guild structure, and food webs); connectance; pyramids of numbers, biomass, and energy; energy flow, ecological efficiency and energetics; secondary succession and transition matrices; community matrix; saturation with individuals and with species; species diversity; diversity of lowland rainforest trees; community stability; chaotic attractors; evolutionary convergence and ecological equivalents; evolution of communities; pseudo-communities. community organization; trophic levels and food webs; the community matrix; guild structure; primary productivity and evapotranspiration; pyramids of numbers, biomass, and energy; energy flow and ecological energetics; saturation with individuals and with species; species diversity; diversity of lowland rainforest trees; community stability; chaotic attractors, evolutionary convergence and ecological equivalents; ecotones, vegetational continuua, soil formation and primary succession; evolution of communities.

Island Biogeography and Conservation Biology

Classical biogeography; biogeographic “rules;” continental drift; island biogeography; species-area relationships; equilibrium theory; compression hypothesis; islands as ecological experiments: Krakatau, Galápagos finches, Hawaiian Drosophilidae, other island examples; metapopulations, conservation biology, human impacts on natural ecosystems, hot spots of biodiversity, applied biogeography and the design of nature preserves.