Population Ecology - Lecture Schedule

[ Teaching ] [ Population Ecology ] [ Course Requirements ] [ Example Exercises ] [ Lecture Schedule ]

Readings given are from Begon, Mortimer, and Thompson (BG&T) or Gotelli (G).

Topic

Reading

I. Population ecology: the basics

BM&T: Chapters 1 and 3
G: Chapter 1

II. Modeling population life history

A. "Birth"
B. Mortality

BM&T: Chapter 1

III. Population change and intraspecific interactions

A. Seasonal effects and short-term fluctuations
B. Exponential growth

1. Continuous and discrete time models
2. Instantaneous rates

C. Logistic growth

1. Continuous and discrete time models
2. Time lags and chaos

BM&T: Chapters 2 and 3
G: Chapters 1 and 2

IV. Age/Stage Structured Populations

A. Age structure and life tables
B. Population projection matrices 

BM&T: Chapter 3
G: Chapter 3

V. Interspecific competition

A. Volterra-Gause models
B. Animals
C. Plants

BM&T: Chapter 4
G: Chapter 5

VI. Predation

A. Lotka-Volterra oscillations
B. Functional response
C. Animals, plants, hosts, parasites, etc.
D. Exploitation

BM&T: Chapter 5
G: Chapter 6

VII. Population regulation

A. Equilibrium, stability, and resilience
B. Density independence and density dependence  

BM&T: Chapter 6
G: Chapter 4

VIII. Metapopulation dynamics

BM&T: Chapter 7

Updated 09/09/2009