Advanced Ecology

Topics

• Read, synthesize, and critically discuss contemporary published research in ecology. Analyze ecological systems in terms of proximate and ultimate causation, and be able to work with multi-level systems interactions.
• Use basic conceptual and analytical tools for describing and quantifying ecological relationships.
• Understand and use fundamental analytical methods to describe structure and dynamics of populations and communities. Make predictions about population and community dynamics based on knowledge about biotic and abiotic factors influencing species interactions. Integrate knowledge about species interactions to explain higher level ecosystem processes.
• Evaluate differences across ecosystems in terms of differences in rates of metabolism and the relative open-ness of ecosystem cycles.
• Critically evaluate data from whole-ecosystem experiments and cross-ecosystem studies.
• Analyze some of the complex interactions between global change and ecological structure and function.
• Read a model, interpreting its equations as statements about underlying processes and assumptions about system structure and function.
• Modify existing models for applications to related systems or alternative scenarios.
• Use the R scripting language as an environment for implementing ecological models and studying their behavior.

Official roster learning outcomes