Instructors:

Workload:

3 credits (3-0-6)

Prerequisite:

 BIOL 215 or both ENVR 200and ENVR 202, MATH 112 or equivalent; or permission of the instructor

Content:

This course provides undergraduate students with a strong ecological basis to understand the natural causes and consequences of current global environmental changes. It explores how biodiversity and ecosystem processes are defined and measured, how they vary in space and time, how they are affected by physical and biological factors, and how they affect each other and human societies. It is at the same level as BIOL 308, and entirely complementary. Taken as a sequence, BIOL 308 and 310 will give a good introduction to much of ecology. BIOL 310, however, does not require BIOL 308 as a prerequisite. Students with an environmental interest will find much relevant material in this course.

Topics covered include:

• Biodiversity: concepts, measurement, patterns
• Biodiversity: determinants, from local to global scales
• Ecosystems: productivity, nutrient cycling, biogeochemistry
• Ecosystems: regulation, stability, regime shifts
• Cross-scale unifying perspectives: entropy, energy, stoichiometry
• Landscapes and metacommunities
• Global change: biogeochemical cycles, climate, biodiversity
• Biodiversity and ecosystem services

Readings:

No textbook but two books recommended: Biodiversity: An Introduction by Gaston and Spicer, 2nd ed. (2004) and The Challenges of Biodiversity Science by Loreau (2010); supplemental readings from the web.

Two 1.5-hour lectures per week. Two assignments with problem sets to be analyzed on a computer during the semester. One field trip to Mont St-Hilaire followed by a tutorial to analyze data from the field trip, and a written report.

Midterm, final, problem sets, field trip report