ECOLOGY

BIO 265 Loyola University Chicago, SPRING 2012 Faculty: Dr. Sapna Sharma Office: Room 426, Life Sciences Building E-mail: ssharma4@luc.edu Phone: 773-508-8357 Office Hours: Wednesday 2-3 or by appointment Required Reading: Lecture: Molles, MC. 2010. Ecology: Concepts and Applications. 5th Edition. McGraw Hill, Boston MA. 572 pp. Course Description This course unites the 1) conceptual framework of ecology, 2) major ecological issues, and 3) skills needed for scientific study, with a special emphasis on data interpretation. Ecology is broadly defined as the study of relationships between living organisms and their biotic and abiotic environment. Scales of ecological inquiry addressed in this course range from genes, individuals, and populations to communities, ecosystems, and landscapes. Lectures stress the importance of ecology for informing conservation of biodiversity and environmental quality, and draw heavily on empirical examples from temperate, tropical, and polar ecosystems and human-dominated landscapes throughout the world. Participation Your participation is important to the success of this course. Students are expected to be mentally engaged during lecture, always asking questions when uncertain, participating in group activities, and contributing to the discussion when appropriate. I expect you to attend every class and to arrive on time, but recognize that sometimes emergencies occur. Class discussion of reading will be held on most class periods. Academic Integrity Assignments and examinations should reflect each individuals understanding and achievement. Written submissions must be in your own words: if you use another persons words or ideas, the source(s) must be cited. Academic dishonesty will incur serious penalties and may result in referral to the Dean of Students and could adversely affect your grade. For further policy regarding academic integrity, including penalties that may be incurred for academic dishonesty, please refer to the LUC website: http://www.luc.edu/cas/pdfs/CAS_Academic_Integrity_Statement_December_07.pdf Respect and Courtesy Please be sure to turn your cell phone off when you enter the classroom. Texting, IMing, e-mailing, and internet browsing will distract you from the lecture material and are strongly discouraged. Please do not talk to other students during the lecture. This is distracting for students and the instructor. Excessive disruption may generate an invitation from the professor to leave the room. If you are frequently late you will be asked the reason for your disruptions and expected to correct your behavior. Examinations will focus on the material presented in each section of the course. In class examinations are not cumulative. Take care to note, however, the nature of the material is such that it builds upon itself, so a working knowledge of the previous topics is usually required as we move into new ones. All exams are closed-book. The format will be some combination of multiple choice and short answer/essay.

Make-up exams are by advance permission only. If you cannot make an examination at the scheduled time due to illness or some emergency, you must make all reasonable efforts to inform me prior to the beginning of the exam period and within 12 hours after the exam, otherwise you will receive a zero. A note from the health center must explicitly indicate that one was too ill to attend the examination, not just that one was seen by the health center. Medical excuses from a relative will not be accepted nor considered a valid excuse. Students must allow a limited release of information (indicating that he/she was seen by a physician on the date specified in the note). Make-up exams must be taken as soon as possible following the missed date. If the exam is not completed within 7 days following the test (barring extreme situations), I reserve the right to assign a zero. The final examination will be cumulative and cannot be dropped. However, it will focus on material considered in the latter part of the course. Take care to note, however, the nature of the material is such that it builds upon itself, so a working knowledge of the previous topics is usually required as we move into new ones. All exams are closed-book. The format will be some combination of multiple choice and short answer/essay. The final exam must be taken at the time and location determined by the LUC administration. This is College policy and there are very few permissible exceptions. Please see me as soon as possible if you anticipate a conflict. Special circumstances Students requiring special considerations including those with special needs and student-athletes for test or note-taking must see me to make arrangements prior to expected absences or exams. Services for Students with Disabilities (SSWD) must have documentation of the disability on file to provide academic accommodations. We must receive this documentation no later than the end of the second week of classes. General guidelines about services can be found at http://www.luc.edu/sswd/index.shtml. Please feel free to see me during office hours or before/after class to discuss your situation. I am happy to work with you and will hold your information confidential. Please be proactive in communicating your individual circumstances. Group Presentations At the beginning of the semester, each student will be assigned to a team of 4-5 students and a research paper. Each group will give a presentation about their assigned topic, which will serve as an in-depth 15 minute review for the rest of the class. This is a collaborative effort and presentations will be graded on overall team effort and on the quality of the individual components through peer evaluations. Thirty percent of the grade will be deducted if one fails to participate in the group assignment. Writing assignment Each student is responsible for completing a writing assignment. Be sure to turn it in prior to the due date, and participate in the class discussion of the information when it comes up. Twenty percent of the grade of the assignment will be deducted for each day the assignment is late. Complete instructions for the group presentations and writing assignments will be passed out in the 2nd and 3rd weeks of the course, and will also be posted on blackboard. These assignments are included as part of this course so that students may have a greater diversity of grading opportunities beyond the lecture exams.

Grading scale A = 93-100% A- = 90-92% B+ = 88-89% B = 82-87% B- = 80-81% C+ = 78-79%

C = 72-77% C- = 70-71% D+ = 65-69% D = 60-64% F= <60%

Grades as percentage of total Exam1 25% Exam 2 25% Final Exam 30% Group presentation 15% Writing assignment 5% Course topics

Introduction Biogeography

What is ecology? Scientific method, graphing, data interpretation Climate, distribution patterns, biomes, island-biogeography, species diversity, species-area relationship

Evolution Climate Change Behavioral ecology Population ecology

Natural selection, fitness, genetic drift, gene flow Extreme temperatures, climate change Sociality, foraging ecology, mating systems, reproduction Population characteristics, age structure, life tables, population growth and regulation Competition, symbiosis, predation, invasive species

Species interactions

Community ecology

Community structure, food webs, community assembly Energy flow, decomposition, primary and secondary production, nutrient cycling El Nio, land cover, atmospheric composition

Ecosystem ecology

Global Ecology

Week

Dates

Topic

Reading

1 2 3 4 5 6 7

18-Jan 23-Jan 25-Jan 30-Jan 1-Feb 6-Feb 8-Feb 13-Feb 15-Feb 20-Feb 22-Feb 27-Feb 29-Feb 12-Mar 14-Mar 19-Mar 21-Mar 26-Mar 28-Mar 2-Apr 4-Apr 9-Apr 11-Apr 16-Apr 18-Apr 23-Apr 25-Apr 30-Apr

9 10 11 12 13 14

Introduction to Ecology/Scientific Method Biogeography Biogeography; Intro to Writing Assign. Island Biogeography; Intro. To Group Assign. Evolution Climate Change Behavioral ecology Population Ecology Exam 1 Population Dynamics Student presentations Population Growth Life History No classes Mar 5-10 Species interactions - Competition Invasive species Written assignment due Species interactions - Exploitation Student presentations Species interactions - Mutualism Exam 2 Abundance and diversity Student presentations No Class. Easter Monday Community structure Ecosystem Ecology Student presentations Nutrient dynamics/Global Ecology Global Ecology FINAL EXAM: Monday April 30th: 4:15-6 pm

Chapter 1 Chapter 2 Chapter 3 Chapter 22 Chapter 4 Chapter 23 Chapter 8 Chapter 9 Chapter 10 Chapter 11 Chapter 12 Chapter 13 Chapter 13 Chapter 14 Chapter 15 Chapter 16

Chapter 17 Chapter 18 Chapter 19; 23 Chapter 23

Note: The pace of the course will likely vary somewhat from the schedule presented here, however, due dates for writing assignments, group presentations, and exams will not change. Students will be alerted to exactly which chapters are included in an exam at least 1 week prior to the time it is given. Error Policy: The instructor reserves the right to amend or correct this syllabus. Graduate Teaching Assistant: Mike Hassett Email: mhassett@luc.edu LSB 418