Section H -- Monday, Wednesday, Friday 3:00-3:50, SA 126, 3 credits
Instructor:  Dr. Ted Fleming, Office 227 SA, 284-6881; tfleming@fig.cox.miami.edu
Office hours: M, W, F @ 9-10 a.m. and W, F @ 5-6 p.m. or by appointment

Dates   Tentative Lecture Schedule    Readings
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Aug 23  Course Introduction     Chapt. 1
Aug 25  Basic tools of ecology
Aug 28  The physical environment    Chapt. 2
Aug 30  Adaptation      Chapt. 3
Sept 1   Climate...soils     Chapt. 4
Sept 4   LABOR DAY
Sept 6   Biomes      Chapt. 5
Sept 8, 11  Energy in ecosystems    Chapt. 6
Sept 13, 15   Ecosystem pathways     Chapt. 7
Sept 18, 20  Nutrient regeneration    Chapt. 8
Sept 22  EXAM 1
Sept 25  Population structure     Chapt. 14
Sept 27, 29  Population growth and regulation   Chapt. 15
Oct 2, 4  Temporal and spatial dynamics   Chapt. 16
Oct 6   Relationships among species    Chapt. 18
Oct 9, 11  Competition      Chapt. 19
Oct 13, 16  Predation      Chapt. 20
Oct 18  Mutualism      Chapt. 18
Oct 20  FALL RECESS
Oct 23, 25  Evolutionary responses    Chapt. 21
Oct 27  Exam 2
Oct 30, Nov 1 Community structure     Chapt. 22
Nov 3   Community development    Chapt  23
Nov 6, 8  Biodiversity      Chapt. 24
Nov 10, 13  History and biogeography    Chapt. 25
Nov 15, 17  Extinction and conservation    Chapt. 26
Nov 20, 22  Human ecology     Chapt. 27
Nov 24  THANKSGIVING BREAK
Nov 27, 29  Human ecology
Dec 1   EXAM 3

Dec 13  FINAL EXAM, 2-4:30 in Cox Science 126
 

 Course textbook: Ricklefs, R.E.  1997.  The Economy of Nature, 4th edition.  W.H. Freeman, New York.

PLEASE NOTE: This course cannot be dropped without penalty after Oct. 26.  Students wishing to drop after this deadline must write a letter of appeal to the Faculty Committee on Academic Appeals, 2nd floor Ashe Bldg.

GRADING POLICY:  Course grades will be based on the total points earned out of 300.  Each exam is worth 100 points.  Exam format includes a mixture of multiple choice, true-false, short answer, and essay questions.  Your lowest score from Exams 1-3 will be dropped.  THERE WILL BE NO MAKEUP EXAMS.  If you miss an hourly exam, that exam will be the one that is dropped.  You must take the Final Exam.  Students are expected to do the reading corresponding to each lecture prior to coming to that class.  Exam questions will come from lectures and reading material. Class attendence is therefore expected and necessary.  A grade of "Incomplete" will be awarded only when your instructor is satisfied that there are reasonable non-academic grounds for failure to complete the course.  An "I" will not be awarded to students who are in jeopardy of failing the course.

Please do not ask permission to take the Final Exam at a time other than the scheduled time.

THE HONOR CODE:  Students are required to uphold the undergraduate student Honor Code and will be expected to sign the following pledge on each exam and written assignment:  "On my honor, I have neither given nor received any aid on this examination."  It is the policy of the Biology Department that academic dishonesty or complicity with dishonesty will result in a failing grade in the course.

SUGGESTED READINGS (for your intellectual enjoyment)

Three classics:
Carson, R.  1963.  Silent spring.  Houghton-Mifflin, New York.
Douglas, M. S.  1947.  The everglades: a river of grass.  Pineapple Press, Sarasota.
Leopold, A. S.  1947.  A sand county almanac. Oxford University Press, New York.

More recent "classics:"
Diamond, J.  1992.  The third chimpanzee.  Harper-Collins, New York.
Diamond, J.  1997.  Guns, germs, and steel.  W.W. Norton & Co., New York.
Ehenfeld, D.  1981.  The arrogance of humanism.  Oxford University Press, Oxford.
Steingraber, S.  1997.  Living downstream.  Vintage Books, New York.
Weiner, J.  1994.  The beak of the finch.  Vintage Books, New York.
 

BIL 235, Fall 2000 – Lecture Outlines

Topic 2: Basic tools for ecologists

 A.  Asking and answering ecological questions
 B.  Null hypotheses
 C.  Quantitative tools
  1. Descriptive statistics
  2. Statistical tests
 D.  Models

Topic 3: The physical environment

 A.  Introduction to the physical environment
 B.  Two major physical characteristics of earth
  1. Temperature
  2. Water
 C.  Carbon, oxygen, and nutrients
 D.  Solar energy
 E.  Allometry and some of the consequences of size

Topic 4: Adaptation to aquatic and terrestrial environments

 A.  General features of adaptations
 B.  Photosynthetic adaptations in plants
  1. Major photosynthetic pathways
  2. The power of stable isotopes

Topic 5: Climate, topography, and soils

 A.  Major physical features of earth and their ecological consequences
  1. Physical features
  2. Ecological consequences
 B.  Soils
  1. Basic importance of soil
  2. Soil structure and chemistry
  3. Soil formation

Topic 6: Biological communities: biomes

 A.  The ecological niche
  1. Historical definitions
  2. A multivariate view
 B.  Climate and plant distributions
  1. General patterns
  2. The influence of local factors
 C.  Major terrestrial biomes
  1. Tundra
  2. Temperate deciduous forest
  3. Deserts
  4. Tropical rain forests

Topic 7: Energy in ecosystems

 A.  Basic review of energy
 B.  Energy flow in the biosphere
  1. The fate of solar energy
  2. Energy flow in ecosystems
  3. Basic energetic strategies

Topic 8: Ecosystem pathways

 A.  Introduction to pathways
 B.  The concept of limiting factors
 C.  Basic features of biogeochemical cycles
 D.  Specific BGC cycles
  1. Water
  2. Carbon
  3. Nitrogen
  4. Phosphorus

Topic 9: Nutrient regeneration in ecosystems

 A.  How to study the nutrient dynamics of ecosystems
 B.  Three specific ecosystems
  1. Temperate deciduous forests
  2. Tropical rainforests
  3. Temperate freshwater lakes

Topic 10: The biology of populations (structure, growth, regulation, and dynamics)

 A.  Introduction: what is a population?
 B.  The basic characteristics of populations
 C.  Models of population growth
  1. Exponential growth
  2. Logistic growth
 D.  Life and fecundity tables
 E.  Reproductive value
 F.  Population projections
 G.  Population regulation
  1. Equilibrium vs. non-equilibrium views
  2. Density-independence vs. density dependence
 H.  Metapopulations

 Topic 11: Relationships among species: competition, predation, and mutualism

 A.  Kinds of interactions
 B.  Competition
  1. Basic features
  2. Mechanisms of competition
  3. The infamous Lotka-Volterra model
  4. Competition in action
 C.  Predation
  1. Overview of predation
  2. Numerical and functional responses
  3. A model of predation
  4. Community aspects of predation
 D.  Mutualisms
  1. Overview of mutualisms
  2. Specific examples of mutualisms in the Sonoran Desert

Topic 12: Community ecology and biodiversity

 A.  Communities and their emergent properties
 B.  Descriptive aspects of communities
  1. Species diversity
  2. Relative abundance of species
  3. Interaction strength
 C.  Ecological succession
 D.  Historical changes in community composition
 E.  Spatial aspects of community composition

Topic 13: Biodiversity

 A.  Trends in diversity from the geological record
 B.  The current biodiversity situation
 C.  Why be concerned about the loss of species?
 D.  Does diversity beget ecological stability?

Topic 14: Human ecology

 A.  Human population biology
  1. Basic demography
  2. Historical trends
  3. What does the future hold?
 B.  Human resource use and its environmental impact
  1. Food resources
  2. Energy resources
  3. Can the natural world survive?