ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES 325: FUNDAMENTALS OF ECOLOGY

SUMMER QUARTER, 2023

Offered Online

 

Registration Opens May 9:   Click here for Registration Information. Note that the course is available to students currently enrolled at Western Washington University as well as to other interested individuals.

Instructor: Dr. David Wallin Office: ES342 Phone: 650-7526 e-mail: david.wallin@wwu.edu
Text Ecology: Concepts and Applications (8th Edition)  by Manuel C. Molles;

NOTE: Used copies of the 1st through 7th Editions of this book may be available.  For most of course, these earlier edition books will have nearly the same material.  You can probably get by with one of these but you will be responsible for checking to make sure that the content of the edition that you have is equivalent to the chapters that I assign.

Buying your text: Since many (most?) of you are not in Bellingham this summer, I have not asked the bookstore to order the book.  Instead, you can search online to find a copy.  Amazon is one option but there are many others.  I’d strongly urge you to save some money by finding a used copy.  I just checked and used copies of the older editions are available from Amazon for as little as $9.45.

Class Meeting: ONLINE; no classroom meetings. 

Office Hours: Contact me via email to set up a time to meet via ZOOM in person (if you are in town) or to chat by phone.
Additional readings as assigned: Online.

Prerequisites: As noted in the WWU Bulletin and the online Classfinder, One year of general chemistry (CHEM 161, 162, 163) AND one year of biology (BIOL 204, 205, 206) must be completed prior to enrolling in ESCI 325. 

Student Learning Objectives: Upon completion of the course, students will be well versed in theoretical framework for the field of ecology as well as practical applications of this knowledge.

 

Academic Policies: Western’s policies regarding academic honesty; disability and religious accommodations; ethical conduct with technology; equal opportunity; finals; medical excuse; and student conduct that are applicable to all students can be found here: https://syllabi.wwu.edu/

 

 

Grades:  1. Midterm exam 45%
                2. Final exam 45%
                3. Homework 10%
               4. Optional writing assignment 10%; Note that completion of this writing assignment will reduce the weighting of the Midterm and Final exams to 40% each

Late Assignments: grades reduced by 5%/day if turned in late without a valid excuse (illness, family crisis, etc.). Assignments that are more than one week late will not be accepted without a valid excuse (illness, family crisis, etc.).

 

Academic Dishonesty: There has been a substantial increase in the number of cases of Academic Dishonesty in recent years.  For this reason, all faculty members have been instructed by the Registrar’s Office to provide students with explicit information about Academic Dishonesty.  Briefly stated, lying, cheating and stealing will not be tolerated in any form.  Actions of this type will result in severe consequences that could include a failing grade in the class and dismissal from the university.  Hopefully, this does not come as a surprise to anyone.  All students should review Appendix D, Academic Honesty Policy and Procedure in the back of the general bulletin for a more detailed discussion of what constitutes academic dishonesty. 

Grading: A>=93; A- 90-92; B+ 88-89; B 83-87; B- 80-82; C+ 78-79; C 73-77; C- 70-72; D+ 68-69; D 63-67 D- 60-62; F<59

Notes Regarding the Online Class: Students in the online class can access lectures via special power point files that will be posted on the Canvas site.  These power point lectures will have a narrative recorded for each slide.  Through this narrative, you will hear essentially the same thing that you would hear if you took the class through a traditional classroom format.  You can view and listen to lectures or individual slides as often as you wish and you can access the lectures at any time that is convenient for you.  It will be critical for you to keep up with the schedule posted below.  Although taking the class online offers you great flexibility you will miss out on the typical questions and discussion that take place in the classroom.  In an effort to replace this, you are strongly encouraged to email questions to me.  I will respond to your question as quickly as I can (usually later the same day) and I will send your question and my response to the entire class.  I will also set up a Q&A section on the blackboard site.  Everyone will be able to view both the questions and my answers.  I will try to check this site every day.  In addition, you can send me email or make arrangements to talk via phone or in person if you have individual question.  There will also be a few homework assignments that you can access online and you will turn in to me via email.  Exams will be taken online.  You can take the exam any time during a 24 hour time period but you will only have 60 minutes to complete the exam.

 

Tentative Schedule: CHECK HERE FOR UPDATES TO THIS SCHEDULE THROUGHOUT THE TERM!  Due dates for assignments, exam and lecture schedule may change through the quarter.  NOTE THAT THE SCHEDULE BELOW IS APPROXIMATE AND PROBABLY OVERLY OPTIMISTIC.  WE WILL PROBABLY NOT GET THROUGH ALL OF THIS MATERIAL.  I WILL UPDATE THE SCHEDULE PERIODICALLY.

Last Updated: 6/20/2023

 

Topic

8th Edition Book Chapters & Supplementary Readings

Week 1
6/20

Introduction: What is Ecology?
Population Genetics and Natural Selection

1, 4 & papers by J.R. Platt (Click here to view this paper) and another paper by Jerry Coyne (Click here to view this paper)

Week 1
6/22

 SECTION I: NATURAL HISTORY
Life on Land; Life on Water

2, 3 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Friendly_Floatees, tubtoys_ocean_circ.pdf

Week 2
6/27

 Life on Land (concluded);

Life on Water (concluded);

 

Week 2 6/29

SECTION II: INDIVIDUALS
Temperature and Water Relations

5, 6 & paper by Waring and Franklin waring_and_franklin_1979.pdf

Optional readings:

Sharks in fresh water(updated 7/2/2022)

Sharks in fresh water 2 (updated 7/2/2022)7

Week 3
7/4

 Energy and Nutrient Relations

SECTION III: POPULATIONS
Population Distribution and Abundance, Click here for homework assignment: Mountain Goat Population Dynamics

7 (Note that we are skipping Chapter  8)

9, 10

Week 3
7/6

 Population Dynamics  

Several people have asked about the ln, the natural log.  There is lots of information about this on the web.  Here is one good source of information:

http://mathforum.org/dr.math/faq/faq.e.html

***Homework Assignment Due 7/7, 5PM***

NOTE: (added 7/4/17 @ 5:30PM) You should email your completed assignment directly to me, not to Brooke McIntyre. There was a typo on the homework webpage. Sorry for the confusion!)

11

Week 4
7/11

***MIDTERM EXAM, 7/9-10 ***

Population Growth, Life Histories

11, 12,

Nalini Nadkarni: "How many trees per person?"

Week 4
7/13

SECTION IV: INTERACTIONS
Competition

13

Week 5
7/18

Exploitation: Predation, Herbivory, Parasitism and Disease

14

Week 5
7/20

Mutualism

SECTION V: COMMUNITIES AND ECOSYSTEMS

 Nutrient Cycling and Retention

Click here for Second Homework Assignment: A Simple Forest Carbon Budget

15,

19, PNW Carbon Budget Lecture

 

Week 6
7/25

Nutrient Cycling (concluded)

 

Parts of the following chapters will be covered as time permits:

Species Abundance and Diversity
Species Interactions and Community Structure,

Succession and Stability    

 

 

*** Homework Assignment Due 7/27, 5PM***

16, 17, 20

Week 6
7/31

 Final Exam 7/30-31

 

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