Graduate Studies


BIOL 58500 Ecology

Offering:
Fall, Credit 3.0

Prerequisites:

BIOL 28600 or consent of instructor.

Description:

BIOL 58500 is a general course in population and community ecology, designed to build on the coverage of these topics provided in BIOL 12100. Beginning with a review of natural selection, topics include physiological, behavioral, and life history adaptations of animals and plants. "Life tables" provide a bridge to population dynamics: how do intra- and inter-specific competition, predation and parasitism influence population growth and limitation? In turn, how do these processes determine which and how many species can coexist? The final part of the course focuses on the determinants and consequences of biotic diversity.

Emphasis is on basic principles, but the applied consequences are not far in the background: how do life history characteristics influence species' vulnerability to hunting or habitat loss? How can humans act as "prudent predators" to harvest, but not eliminate, biotic resources? What are the consequences of disturbance and habitat loss for species diversity? What difference does it make to the rest of the community if species are lost?

Instructor(s):
Richard Howard  Nancy Emery 

E-mail:
rhoward@purdue.edu
nemery@purdue.edu

Textbook(s):

Text:  Elements of Ecology  
Year/Edition:  2009
ISBN Number:   13:  978-0-321-55957-9
                       10:  0-321-55957-6
Author(s):  Smith, T.M. and R. L. Smith
Publisher:  Benjamin Cummings
Paperback - This text is recommended, not required

Course Format:

BIOL 58500 is a linked course.  You must choose from:

CRN

Instructional Type

Day

Time

Room(s)

12496

50-min Lecture

TTH

Sec 01-10:30-11:20

LILY G401

12497-12498

3-hr. Laboratory

F

Sec 02-9:30-12:20
or
Sec 03-1:30-4:20

LILY G415



Back