BIOLOGY 366 POPULATION ECOLOGY and EVOLUTION

Lecture Syllabus


This is a course in population ecology and population genetics with an emphasis on their relationship to principles of evolutionary and conservation biology. A thorough understanding of basic genetics (introductory biology level) is essential as is a familiarity with another sub-discipline in biology (e.g., behavior, cell, development) or a major group of organisms (vertebrates, invertebrates, plants). The material covered in this course is very synthetic. The more knowledge about biology that you bring to it the better. There will be two lectures and one laboratory lecture each week. Group conferences and video supplments will be arranged. There are two course texts that we will be using extensively. I have asked for four copies of each to be placed on reserve in the library. The first is Ecology (4th ed., 2000) by Robert Ricklefs and Gary Miller. The second is Evolution (2nd ed., 2009) by Douglas Futuyma. Reading will also be assigned on a regular basis from the primary literature. There will be three short take home quizzes and a comprehensive final. Two oral presentations will be required on the laboratory portions of the course and homework will be assigned. A 10 page term paper on an independent research project will also be due one week after the course is completed.

The following are important dates:
01/28/14 First lecture
01/28 and 01/30

First laboratory

02/18 First quiz due Tuesday 5 PM (Lectures 1 - 6)
03/11 Second quiz due Tuesday 5 PM (Lectures 7 - 12)
03/11 and 03/13 Oral Presentation of Laboratory Work
03/25 and 03/27 Independent Projects Begin
04/8 and 04/10 Oral Presentation of Metapopulation Simulation
04/22 Third quiz due Tuesday 5 PM (Lectures 13 - 22)
05/1 Last Lecture (26)
05/9 Independent projects due
TBA Final exam

The following is a tentative lecture schedule (chapters or pages in the text are in parentheses):
Date Lecture (Subject to change)
01/28 01. The Darwinian revolution - from typological to population thinking (Ricklefs/Miller Chapter 1; Futuyma Chapter 1; Pigliucci 2007; MacColl 2011; de Quieroz 2005)
01/30

02. Population Ecology. I. Distribution in space and time (Ricklefs/Miller Chapter 2 & pp. 271-286; Schoener 2011; Kokko and Lopez-Sepulcre 2006

)

02/04

03. Population Ecology II. The importance of the Poisson Distribution, quadrat methodologies, and goodness of fit.

02/06 04. Population Ecology. III. Dispersal and an introduction to Metapopulations
02/11 05.Population Ecology. IV. Tolerance limits and performance. Ecological Niche (Structure); Functional Response Curves & Trade-offs [Ricklefs/Miller Chpts. 3 especially 49-51 on allometry., Chapter 4 (water 53-64) Chapter 5 (Temperature 82-89), Chapter 6 (abiotic environmental variation), & Chapter 7( biotic environmental variation116-118, skim the rest]; Futuyma (pgs. 247-250; 260-263 on adaptation) ; Sultan 2007) (Ricklefs/Miller pp. 599-604); Kearney and Porter 2004, abstract, introduction Figures and legends only); Kaplan & Phillips, 2006
02/13 06. Population V. Niche Structure Grant & Grant, 2006
02/18

07. Population Ecology. VI.Niche Dynamics Skelly, 2004

02/20 08. Population Ecology. VII. Introduction to Population Size (Ricklefs/Miller pp. 298-302; 314-318; ) (Ricklefs/Miller Chapters 16, 18) ; Cohen, 2003
02/25 09. Population Ecology. VIII. Population Growth: Deterministic Skeletons (Ricklefs/MillerChapter 16, 18)
02/27 10. Population Ecology. IX. Population Regulation: Logistic Models and stochastic extensions. Higgins et al. 1997; Coulson et al.,2004
03/04 11. Population Ecology. X. Demography: mortality, fecundity. and age structure (Ricklefs/Miller pp. 290 - 297; 302-313).
03/06 12. Population Ecology. XI. Exponential : logistic growth in age structured populations; Coulson et al., 2001
03/11 13. Population Ecology. XI. Age structure, demographic and environmental stochasticity
03/13 14. Population Ecology. XII. Life history flexibility
03/25 15. Population Ecology XIII. Population Viability Analysis (Ricklefs/Miller Chapters 17, 19, 20 , 21, 22, 23)
03/27 16. Population Genetics. I. Multi-species environments; character displacement, Eco-Devo, and the genotype/phenotype schism (Futuyma Chpts. 2, 3, 8 & 9) Orr, 2005; MacColl 2011)
04/01 17. Population Genetics. II. Population Structures and their role in Evolution and Conservation (Futuyma Chpts. 8 & 9)
04/03 18. Population Genetics. IV. A closer look at genetic structures and dynamics (Futuyma Chpts. 9 &10; Gilbert, 2001; Sarkar and Fuller 2003;
04/08 19. Population Genetics. V. Environment, Developmental Plasticity, Maternal Effects: A Korean odyssey Kaplan & Phillips, 2006
04/10 20. Population Genetics. VI. Population Genetic Structure/Dynamic modelling
04/15 21. Population Genetics. VII. Population Genetic Structure Variation in Space and Time (Futuyma Chpts 9 &10)
04/17 22. Population Genetics. VIII. Genetic Drift (Futuyma Chapts. 9, 10)
04/22 23. Population Genetics. IX. Genetic Drift and Inbreeding (Futuyma Chpts. 11 &12) Keller and Waller 2002
04/24 24. Population Genetics. X. Genetic Drift, Migration, and Population Genetic Substructuring Mills & Allendorf, 1996:
04/29 25. Population Genetics. XI. Molecular Evolution and an introduction to Natural selection. (Futuyma Chapter 11,12,3)
05/01 26. Population Genetics. XII. Shifting Balance Theory Cresko et al. 2007 Pigliucci 2007

 


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Last Modified 01/25/13
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