FRWS 3810 Plant and Animal Population Ecology

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FRWS 3810Plant and AnimalPopulation Ecology

• Dr. Jennifer Gervais, instructor
• Craig Thompson, teaching assistant

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Syllabus in brief
Course Objectives
Define population ecology as a science Understand
its relationship to evolution, ecology,
management, and conservation
Understand basic concepts of population
structure growth, and dynamics
Compare and contrast population ecology between
animals and plants
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TEXTS

• There is no textbook for class-
• Readings will be drawn from many sources
• All will be available on electronic Course
  Reserves and as hard copies on reserve in the
  Quinney Library

The lab text Donovan and Weldon, 2002.
Spreadsheets in Conservation Biology and
Landscape Ecology
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Laboratory Sessions

• These will be in Quinney Computer Lab Room 306
  (NOT 304).

Lab assignments will be handed out at the
beginning of the session and are due at the
beginning of the following session
These are worth 20 of the final grade
Policy on working together
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Other Graded Work
Two mid-term exams each worth 20, cumulative to
exam
The final exam worth 25 of final grade
Sneak-attack quizzes (review notes prior to
class!) 15 (lowest grade dropped)
Ungraded writing assignments used to adjust
overall grades at the finish
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Resources

• The class web page
• (http//www.cnr.usu.edu/faculty/jgervais)
• Lecture outlines
• Supplementary material
• Links to other resources

Office hours Dr. Gervais Office Hours
1200-130, MW, BNR 177 Craigs Office Hours
200-330, W, JQL 227 Or, call or email us for an
appointment
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Tips for Success

• Read lecture outline and bring it to lecture
• Review your notes daily!
• Ask when you dont understand
• Read the assigned reading, take notes
• Make flashcards
• Practice explaining the main points of lectures
  and labs to a friend
• Sketch graphs and figures and explain them
• DONT WAIT TIL THE LAST MINUTE

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SO, Population Ecology.

• What is it?

The branch of ecology concerned with the
structure and dynamics of populations
Just what is a population, anyway?
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Defining a population can be tricky

• It is defined differently in different fields

In statistics, it is a group from which we wish
to draw inferences
In genetics, it is a group of interbreeding
individuals of the same species, isolated from
other groups
In population ecology, it is a group of
individuals of the same species in the same area
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Which of these are populations?What kind of
populations are they?

• The collection of people in this room
• A stand of aspen
• Aphids inhabiting the same shrub
• A group of voles living on an island
• Sagebrush on Mount Logan
• Swans wintering within Cache Valley

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Population ecology is linked to manyother
biological disciplines
Community ecology
Landscape ecology
Conservation biology
Population Ecology
Population genetics
Resource management
Evolution
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Fundamentally, however, studies of populations
are interested in the same basic processes
regardless of the scientific discipline

• How do we take information regarding individuals
  and draw inferences to groups of individuals?

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Individual Characteristics AGE STAGE SIZE SEX
BEHAVIOR
Population characteristics NUMBERS DENSITY AGE
/STAGE DISTRIBUTION SEX RATIO SPATIAL
DISTRIBUTION
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Individual Processes DEVELOPMENT GROWTH FEEDIN
G REPRODUCTION DEATH
Population Processes POPULATION
GROWTH CHANGES IN NUMBERS CHANGES IN
DENSITY CHANGES IN AGE DISTRIBUTION MORTALITY
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Summary

• Population biology deals with populations of
  organisms definitions are context-specific.

• Population biology touches on many other
• disciplines, including conservation,
• management, landscape ecology

• Population biology seeks to infer processes
• and characteristics of groups of organisms
• from processes and characteristics of
• individuals