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Syllabus
3 credits.
Ecological concepts across scales ranging from individuals, to populations,
communities, ecosystems, and landscapes will be presented. Case studies
from recent ecological literature at each of these levels will then be
used to illustrate how ecologists are addressing the challenges of current
and projected global changes. Global changes will include alteration of
atmospheric trace gases, biogeochemistry cycles, land use changes, and
introduction of non-native species to new habitats.
Instructor:
Dr. Irwin Forseth, Department of Biology, University of Maryland
Course
Content
The course in divided into 6 Units, with 2-4 Modules per unit. Students
complete all assigned work in a Module before moving on to the next Module.
|
Topic |
| Unit One:
Humans and Ecology |
| Module 1: What
is Ecology? |
Module 2:
Global Changes
|
| Unit Two:
Physiological Ecology |
Module 3:
Abiotic Factors, Species Abundance and Distribution
|
Module 4:
Energy Budgets & Temperature Regulation
|
Module 5:
Responses to Global Change at the Scale of the Individual
|
| Unit
Three: Population Ecology |
Module 6:
Limits to Population Growth
|
Module 7:
Metapopulations
|
Module 8:
Responses to Global Change at the Level of the Population
|
| Unit
Four: Community Ecology |
Module 9:
Community Structure
|
Module 10:
Community Resistance, Resilience and Stability
|
Module 11:
Responses to Global Change at the Level of the Community
|
| Unit Five:
Ecosystem Ecology |
Module 12:
Trophic-Dynamic Model of Ecosystem Structure
|
Module 13:
Ecosystem Services
|
Module 14:
Responses to Global Change at the Level of the Ecosystem
|
|
Unit Six:
Landscape Ecology |
Module 15:
Structure, Function and Change
|
Module 16:
Ecosystem Management and Land-Use Planning
|
Course
Materials
All course materials are contained in the text developed for each Module,
assigned literature readings, and assigned Internet web sites. Journal
articles will be selected from sources available through the E journals
on the University of Maryland Libraries web site.
Course Requirements
Students should check the Announcements regularly on the CLFS 665 homepage
for course assignments and other information. The Announcements will be
a major means by which the instructor communicates with students.
Students are expected to complete the following work for each of the Units
in the course:
Read the text
in each Module: This summarizes primary concepts and provides internet
links to relevant sites and literature.
Read the assigned papers: Links to the appropriate journals are
available through the University of Maryland Libraries E-Journal site.
Understand links to internet sites. The modules will identify
interesting web sites. The sites designated as Essential Sites will
be required reading. Information in these Essential Sites will be used
for discussions.
Participate in class discussions. Different discussion topics
will be assigned regularly throughout the class. Each student will be
assigned to a small group for each discussion. Each individual is expected
to participate in a collective small group response to the discussion
topic. Each individual is also responsible for a secondary (responsive)
entry to 1 other group posting for each topic. Discussion participation
will be graded.
Complete a research paper (10-15 pages), with references, on
any of the topics covered in the course. The topic chosen must be approved
by the course instructor.
Participate in Teaching Innovation Projects (TIP) : TIPs are
projects where a small group develops an activity or exercise, appropriate
for their classrooms that utilize MCLFS course materials. Excellent
projects will be published on our Web Resources site. Each group will
have a group leader, whose job it will be to keep discussions going
and to post the group presentation in the proper place. After posting,
the TIP project will be discussed by the entire class. All students
of a given group will receive the same grade.
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