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BIOL 4117

Advances in Contemporary Ecology

0.5 credits · Undergraduate

Fall 2025

Topics

  • W Organizational Meeting and Introduction
  • M Hecnar – Metapopulations to Metacommunities
  • W Hecnar – Climate Change
  • M Hecnar – Effects of Climate Change on Community Structure
  • W Hecnar – Stability in Coastal Communities
  • M Hecnar – Long-term Population Studies
  • W Hecnar – Biodiversity and Humans
  • M Hecnar – Laws in Ecology
  • W Hecnar – Novel Ecosystems
  • M Student Presentation –
  • W Student Presentation –
  • M Last Class – Student Presentation –

Readings

  • Recommended: Levin, S.A. (Ed.). 2012. The Princeton Guide to Ecology. Princeton University Press, Princeton, paperback, ISBN: 978-0-691-15604-0 (). A concise encyclopaedic account of concepts and topics in both basic and applied ecology. The 2009 hardcover edition can be used as an alternative.
  • Optional: Brown, J.H.1995. Macroecology, University of Chicago Press, paperback, ISBN 0-226-07615-6 The first macroecology textbook produced. Although several years old, the book provides a good inexpensive introduction to the field and background reading for the course.
  • Optional: Dodds, W.K. 2009. Laws, Theories, and Patterns in Ecology. University of California Press, Berkeley ISBN: 978-0-520-26041-2. A recent textbook that examines the complexity of ecology relative to other sciences and discusses what can be considered laws, theories or patterns.
  • Optional: Gaston, K.J. 2003. The Structure and Dynamics of Geographic Ranges. Oxford University Press, paperback, ISBN 0-19-852641-5 An up to date synthesis of the field of aerography.
  • Recommended: Blackburn, T.M. and K.J. Gaston (eds). 2003. Macroecology: Concepts and Consequences. Blackwell Publishing, paperback, ISBN 0-521-54932-9 The most recent textbook on the topic of macroecology with chapters written by experts on many of the important questions in the field.
  • Recommended: Gaston, K.J. 1994. Rarity. Chapman & Hall, paperback, ISBN 0-412-47510-3. A thorough treatment of the topic of rarity in a compact volume.
  • Recommended: Gaston, K.J., and T. Blackburn. 2000. Pattern and Process in Macroecology. Blackwell Science UK, paperback, ISBN 0-632-05653-3 An advanced and up to date summary of the field that uses Britain’s avifauna as a case study. An excellent but expensive book.
  • Recommended: Hanski, I. 1999. Metapopulation Ecology. Oxford University Press, paperback, ISBN 0-19- 854065-5 A comprehensive synthesis of the field of metapopulation ecology covering both theoretical and empirical research.
  • Recommended: Holyoak, M., M.A. Liebold, and R.D. Holt. (Eds.). 2005. Metacommunities: Spatial Dynamics and Ecological Communities. University of Chicago Press, paperback, ISBN: 0-226-35064-9. The first book on the emerging perspective of metacommunities in ecology.
  • Recommended: Hubbell, S.P. 2001. The Unified Neutral Theory of Biodiversity and Biogeography. Princeton, paperback, ISBN 0-691-02128-7 A new mathematical theory that extends MacArthur and Wilson’s island model in an attempt to merge the fields of ecology and biogeography.
  • Recommended: Maurer, B.A. 1999. Untangling Ecological Complexity: the Macroscopic Perspective. University of Chicago Press, paperback, ISBN 0-226-51133-2 An interesting perspective on complexity in ecological communities written by one of the co-founders of the sub-discipline of macroecology. Maurer provides an extensive justification for using the macroecological approach and in-depth discussion of the geographic range, large-scale assembly of communities, and evolution at the macro-scale.
  • Recommended: Ricklefs, R.E., and D. Schluter. 1993. Species Diversity in Ecological Communities: historical and geographical perspectives. University of Chicago Press, paperback, ISBN 0-226-71823-9 An influential edited volume that coalesced changing viewpoints in ecology. Chapters are uneven, but many provide an interesting read.
  • Recommended: Rosenzweig, M.L. 1995. Species diversity in space and time. Cambridge University Press, paperback, ISBN 0-521-49952-6 An entertaining and informative book that provides a very
  • Recommended: thorough treatment of the role of area in producing patterns of species diversity.
  • Recommended: Schmitz, O. J. 2017. The new ecology: Rethinking a science for the Anthropocene. Princeton University Press. A conservation oriented perspective for viewing human impacts on ecological systems.
  • Recommended: Journals: The library subscribes to several primary international ecological journals such as
Sources