Course Title
Course
Description:
BIOL 361 ECOLOGY (4) [3] – acquaints the student with the dynamics of ecological relationships between man, animals, plants, and the environment. The laboratory will include field experiments in representative ecosystems. Three lecture periods and one three-hour laboratory meet per week. Additionally, some weekend fieldwork will be required. Prerequisite: BIOL 126/7
Objectives:
When you successfully complete this course, you will be able to:
- Participate in the SCIENCE of Ecology by:
- developing hypotheses
- setting up experimental and comparative methods using field, laboratory and theoretical approaches
- interpreting data (emphasis will be placed on data analysis and interpretation)
- writing scientific reports
- making oral and written presentations of the scientific reports
- Demonstrate current understanding of basic ecological principles by interpreting the interaction of individual organisms, populations, communities, and ecosystems with the environment.
- Apply basic ecological principles to novel situations and predict results based on previous work, integrating your scientific understanding with ecological principles.
- Evaluate data and statements using critical thinking skills. Critical thinking will be used when:
- Reading scientific papers
- Forming hypotheses and alternatives
- Analyzing and interpreting data
- Constructing and using models in ecology
- Identify the unique relationship that has developed between humans and the natural world. Assess the effects that people have had on the environment and the consequences of human activities. Apply basic ecological principles to current environmental problems.
- Self assess and identify resources as needed for subsequent learning and to build on written and oral communication skills.
The theme for Ecology this semester will be Invasive Species. We will discuss and investigate processes that are important in the biosphere such as: natural selection, energy flow, nutrient cycling, population growth, and succession through the ecological lens of invasive species. We will also look at the populations and communities that comprise ecosystems, to discover how communities, ecosystems, and the biosphere change during field trips, reading, and mini-lectures. This ecology course will involve student investigation in a broad range of ecological topics from evolution, genetics, physiology, and mathematics.
Ecological science will be experienced as an ongoing, active field of research with different points of view. Many of the examples will not have nice neat "happy endings" because actual data are rarely neat and often do not support only one hypothesis. Really good experiments will refute one of the many non-exclusive hypotheses. We will also study the basic ecological principles behind some of our current environmental problems, especially invasive species. Throughout this study we will look at the ways in which people have or can significantly alter the environment in which they live. Humans are unique creatures, but they are not immune to environmental limitations that can strongly affect the distribution and abundance of human populations. Topics such as human population growth, global natural resources, and pollution will be discussed within the framework of basic ecological concepts.
Thus we will emphasize a hands-on and minds-on approach to class with little formal lecture but a lot of activity, discussion, reading, writing, and thinking.