lkirby@syr.edu

Office: 331 Illick Hall

Office Hours Fall 2008: Tues. 1:00-2:00, Wed. 10:00-11:00

Last Site Update = July 31, 2008

NOTE: SITE UNDER CONSTRUCTION -- CHECK BACK FOR UPDATES!!!!

Books highlighted in lecture as good reading (Yes...even Darwin!)

Lecture schedule

Ecology Lab page

Grading

Lecture = 50%of total grade (300 points total: Quiz One = 15 pts, Quiz Two = 15 pts, Quiz Three = 20 pts, Exam one = 100 pts, Exam Two = 50 pts, Exam Three = 100 pts)

Lab = 50% of total grade (300 points total, see lab web page for breakdown of points)

Textbook:

Required:The Economy of Nature, 5th Edition by Robert E. Ricklefs. Go to The Economy of Nature webpage

Required: General Ecology Lab Manual, Fall 2008-- available at The Copy Center (472-0546), 720 University Ave, Marshall Square Mall, near Starbuck's and the Post Office (manual#xxxxx, about $15).

Reserve readings:

During the semester I will assign several papers for you to read. They can be accessed via the Moon Library Internet Journals service. Click here to see the citations, with links that may not always function if a website has been altered (in that case use the citation to find the article). They should be read by the date shown on the Syllabus schedule and concepts within these papers will be discussed in lecture and on Quiz Three.

Tentative Syllabus, Fall 2007 (I will likely make adjustments as the semester progresses...adaptive management)

Week	Lecture	Date	Lecture Topic	Reading
One	1	Tuesday, 8/28	Ecology -- A still developing science or, "What do we really know?"	Ch.1,Climate Change and the Ecologist
	2	Thursday 9/30	Experimental design, sampling, and hypothesis testing	Lab Manual
Two	3	Tuesday, 9/4	Special Topic on...Planting trees may not reduce atmospheric CO2,
	4	Thursday, 9/6	The Physical Environment	Ch. 2
Three	5	Tuesday, 9/11	QUIZ ONE - STATS CONCEPTS & SIMPLE MATH (bring calculator) Then lecture on... Adaptations to Aquatic and Terrestrial Environments	Ch. 3
	6	Thursday, 9/13	Guest Lecture: Dr. Charlie Hall -- Ecosystem Energetics	Ch. 6
Four	7	Tuesday, 9/18	Highlights from Chs. 3 and 4 Linda Galloway: Writing a lab report -- Using the Library	Ch. 4
	8	Thursday, 9/20	QUIZ TWO - TECHNICAL WRITING (Multiple Choice Format) Then lecture on...
Five	9	Tuesday, 9/25	Ecosystems: Elements	Ch. 7
	10	Thursday, 9/27	Ecosystems: Nutrient Regeneration	Ch. 8
Six	11	Tuesday, 10/2	Exam I: The Physical Environment and Ecosystems	ON...Ch. (1),2,3,4,(5),6,7,8
	12	Thursday, 10/4	Life Histories and Fitness	Ch. 10
Seven	13	Tuesday, 10/9	SCA VISIT -- Guest Lecture: Dr. Robin Kimmerer -- TEK
	14	Thursday, 10/11	Population Ecology: Structures	Ch. 13
Eight	15	Tuesday, 10/16	Population Ecology: Growth and Regulation	Ch. 14
	16	Thursday, 10/18	Population Ecology: Temporal and Spatial Dynamics	Ch. 15
Nine	17	Tuesday, 10/23	Special Topic: Population Dyanamics - Dr. Jacqui Frair Plus: Molecular Ecology - Dr. Annette Kretzer
	18	Thursday, 10/25	Exam II: Population Ecology	Frair, TEK, Chs. 10,13,14,15
Ten	19	Tuesday, 10/30	Fire Ecology	Fire Ecology Readings
	20	Thursday, 11/1	Species Interactions: Predator-Prey	Ch. 18
Eleven	21	Tuesday, 11/6	Species Interactions: Parasitism and Herbivory	Ch. 17, Shoot this deer
	22	Thursday, 11/8	Species Interactions: Competition	Ch. 19
Twelve	23	Tuesday, 11/13	Special Topic: Mutualisms and Mycorrhizal Ecology	Lecture
	24	Thursday, 11/15	Communities: Structure	Ch. 21
Thirteen	25	Tuesday, 11/20	Communities: Development
	26	Thursday, 11/22	Thanksgiving break no class
Fourteen	26	Tuesday, 11/27	1. QUIZ THREE - readings listed under Global Warming From an Ecologist's Perspective, Fire Ecology (lecture also), Chronic Waisting Disease (lecture also) 2. Followed by Community Development & guest lecture by Dr. Martin Dovciak	Ch. 22
	27	Thursday, 11/29	Biodiversity	Ch. 23, Biodiversity
Fifteen	28	Tuesday, 12/4	Special Topic: Invasive Species -Dr. Martin Schlaepfer	Invasive species Management
	29	Thursday, 12/6	Restoration Ecology Readings - Discussion; Review for Final	Restoration Ecology
	30	FRI 12/14 8:00am-10:00am MARSH AUD	Final Exam Marshall Hall Auditorium BRING A #2 PENCIL (OR TWO)	67% = Mutualisims/Mycorrhizae, Ch. 17,18,19,21,22,23, Invasive Species, Restoration Ecology 33% = Comprehensive Final Exam

Statistics and Report Writing

Sokal RR, Rohlf FJ (1995) Biometry 3rd ed. Freeman and Company, New York. A general text.
Cox GW (2002) General Ecology: Laboratory Manual, 8th ed. McGraw-Hill Boston. The first 7 chapters provide a great overview of statistics, experimental design, sampling, and report writing.
Knisely, K (2002) A Student Handbook for Writing in Biology. Sinauer Associates, Massachusetts.

History of Ecology

Real LA, Brown JH, editors (1991) Foundations of Ecology: Classic Papers with Commentaries. University of Chicago Press, Chicago. Contains reproductions of the fundamental papers that have shaped the field, including the origins of ideas on: plant succession, niche theory, trophic interactions, and much more.
Roughgarden J, May RM, Simon LA, editors (1989) Perspectives in Ecological Theory. Princeton University Press, Princeton. Provides overviews of essential theory in ecology by some of the 'big names'.

Lecture Readings

Readings that will be included on the Final Exam

Biodiversity

Required: Nee S (2004) Commentary: More than meets the eye. Nature 429: 804-805.

Invasive Species Management

Recommended: Simberloff D, Parker IM, Windle PN (2005) Introduced species policy, management, and future researc needs. Frontiers in Ecology and the Environment. 3:12-20.

Restoration Ecology

Required: Marzolf GR, Valdez RA, Schmidtt JC, Webb RH. 1998. Perspectives on river restoration in the Grand Canyon. Bulletin of the Ecological Society of America. 79: 250-254.

Previous readings:

Global Warming From an Ecologist's Perspective

Thuiller W 2007, Climate change and the ecologist. Nature 448: 550-552.

Fire Ecology

Donato et al. (2006) Post-wildfire logging hinders regeneration and increases fire risk. Science 311: 352.

Burning Questions By Gantenbein. Douglas Gantenbein. Scientific American, Nov 2002, Vol. 287 Issue 5, p82, 8p, 4c.

Fire fight: with forests burning, U.S. officials are clashing with, environmentalists over how best to reduce the risk of catastrophic blazes. Paul Trachtman, Smithsonian; August 2003, Vol. 34, Issue 5

Chronic Wasting Disease

Yam, Philip (2003) Shoot this deer. Scientific American. 288 (6), begins on p.38

OLD STUFF

Lab Report Writing Handout

Locating an Artical Library Handout

Library Resources

Horton's notes on technical writing

Click here for statistics lecture in PDF