BGY 340-01: Ecology
Fall 2016

Dr. Wade B. Worthen
Office: Townes South 171B
Phone: x-3390

Lecture: Plyler 143, 9:30 - 10:20 am, Monday, Wednesday, and Friday
Laboratory: Plyler 129, 2:30-5:20 pm, Wednesday
Text: The Economy of Nature, Ricklefs, 7th ed.

Course Overview:

As a person living on planet earth, you are immediately dependent on ecosystem services that provide you with oxygen, clean water, and food (other life forms you consume). These services are provided by the dynamic interplay between living organisms and the transfer of energy and matter through the Earth's subsystems. These interactions have evolved over billions of years, and they have ramified into a complex network that we are just starting to describe and understand. Over the course of your adult lifetimes, over the next fifty years while you age from 20 to 70, environmental and ecological issues will become progressively more important to your personal well-being, to the well-being of all other people on the face of the planet, and to the economic and social systems of which we are also a part.

In this course, you will begin to learn about the dynamics of these ecological systems. We will study these interactions from the cellular to planetary scales. We will begin with a consideration of the planet's subsystems, and the role of the biosphere in planetary dynamics. Living things, including you, do not simply live WITHIN the environment; you - like all living systems - also affect that environment. The ecosystem services upon which we depend are the cumulative product of the transfer of energy between biomes, the interactions among species within each biome, and the adaptations of species to their particular environments. Ecology is NOT environmental science, nor is it a discipline focused explicitly on the interactions between humans and the environment. Rather, ecology is defined as the scientific study of the distribution and abundance of organisms. It is the interactions between organisms that form the biological web that supports human life and human civilizations. Ecosystems are nothing more than the sum of the organisms that comprise them. To lose those organisms is to to lose the ecosystem and the services those systems provide. I hope you find it as interesting as it is relevant!

SYLLABUS:

Attendance and Grading Policy:

I expect you to attend every class, lab, and field trip, and to be ON TIME. I cannot emphasize enough how important it is to attend every class, laboratory, and field trip. Although their are some dates labeled as "NO LAB", I do not want you to schedule anything during these periods. If weather is really nice, we may move an activity up into those slots. There is also a saturday when a field trip is scheduled that is too long to squeeze into a lab period. If you have a conflict with that saturday, let me know.

I have taught for 25 years, and folks who miss class do poorly. However, you are adults and are responsible for your own education and life, so I won't punish you for not coming to class... but you will probably earn a poorer grade. I expect you to be in class each day, when the period begins; it is distracting for everyone when someone comes in late. If you have a disability and you need academic accomodations, you should contact the Student Office for Accessibility Services. Do this in a timely manner, early in the term. Then, you should bring this request to me so I can honor and implement your accomodation.

I will assign grades in the following manner. There are 750 available points, and final letter grades will be assigned such that grades of 90% or above earn at least an "A range" grade, 80%-89% at least a "B range" grade, and so forth. Determination of these letter grade cutoffs will be at the sole discretion of the professor; "curving", if warranted, will be on total points accumulated and not individual assignments. +/- grades will be assigned based on total percentage of points earned, as well as more subjective criteria such as improvement through the term and performance on the final.

There will be five "unit" exams, on material covered since the last exam. The final is comprehensive.

There will be lab assignments associated with most laboratories; some will be worth more than others depending on the effort required. Most will simply be a list of questions to answer, but a couple will involve data analysis.

You will also write a very short paper (3-5 pages, 12 pt. font, 1.5 line spacing, 1" margins, R&A style with at least 10 peer-reviewed citations), on some aspect of the "state of the world". You will describe both positive and negative aspects. You will also give a short 10 minute ppt presentation on your topic during our last lab period. Suitable topics are listed here. If you want to do a different topic, check with me first. First come, first served--only one person per topic.

Studying for this Class:

I distribute study questions with each lecture. USE THEM LIKE THIS:

1) Study the material before looking at the questions. When you are confident you understand the material, put your notes aside and take out some paper.

2) Write out answers to each question without looking at your notes.

3) Check your answers against the notes/book. Add what you missed, and correct your errors.

4) Basically, use the notes as a way to practice for quizzes and tests... this way, you can really see what you DO know and what you DON'T, and not fool yourself into thinking "oh yeah, I know that..." without actually committing to a written answer.

5) Also, do not begin studying by answering the questions, because then you will only focus on this information and will ignore the rest. Although MANY TEST QUESTIONS will be THE SAME AS or SIMILAR TO the study questions, there will be other questions on the rest of the material, too. You can probably earn a grade in the B range by just knowing all the answers to the study questions. But an A will require that you know the other stuff, too. Fair warning.

Here's a little aside. One of the most frequent comments on "rate my professor" or on my course evaluations is "he is very hard". You know, I really find that hard to believe. Basically, I give you 80% of the exam questions beforehand!! Yes, I do want specific answers to these questions, that show as detailed an explanation as was presented in class. But really, why else would I discuss something in class at a given level of detail if I wasn't going to test you at that level of detail? If you answer a study question and you are not sure if you have answered it correctly, or if the question is awkwardly worded and you don't understand what I am asking, please ask me for a clarification. I'll even happily review SOME of your answers (most you should be able to check yourself), and I will ALWAYS clarify the question.

I want you to learn this material, and I want you to do well. I hope we have a fun term!