ENVIRONMENTAL
SCIENCES 325: FUNDAMENTALS OF ECOLOGY
SUMMER
QUARTER, 2024
Offered Online
Registration Opens May 9: 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 ) 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. Exam #1 30%
2. Exam #2 30%
3. Exam #3 30%
4.
Homework 10%
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. 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 (or longer) 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. I WILL UPDATE THE SCHEDULE PERIODICALLY.
Last Updated: 7/2/2024
|
|
Topic |
8th Edition Book Chapters & Supplementary Readings |
|
Week 1 |
Introduction: What is Ecology? |
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 |
SECTION I: NATURAL HISTORY |
2, 3 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Friendly_Floatees,
tubtoys_ocean_circ.pdf |
|
Week 2 |
Life on Land (concluded); Life on Water (concluded); |
|
|
Week 2 7/4 |
SECTION II: INDIVIDUALS Exam covers Chapters 1-6 as well as the assigned readings. ****Exam #1; July 4-7***** |
5, 6 & paper by Waring and Franklin waring_and_franklin_1979.pdf Optional readings: |
|
Week 3 |
Energy and Nutrient Relations SECTION III: POPULATIONS |
7 (Note that we are skipping Chapter
8) 9, 10 |
|
Week 3 |
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 7/12, 5PM***
|
11 |
|
Week 4 |
Population Growth, Life Histories ***Exam #2, 7/14-16 *** |
11, 12, |
|
Week 4 |
SECTION IV: INTERACTIONS |
13 |
|
Week 5 |
Exploitation: Predation, Herbivory, Parasitism and Disease |
14 |
|
Week 5 |
Mutualism SECTION V: COMMUNITIES AND
ECOSYSTEMS Nutrient Cycling and Retention Click
here for Second Homework Assignment: A Simple Forest Carbon Budget |
15, |
|
Week 6 |
Nutrient Cycling (concluded) Parts of the following chapters will be covered as time permits: Species Abundance and Diversity Succession and Stability *** Homework Assignment Due 7/31, 5PM*** |
16, 17, 20 |
|
Week 6 |
Final Exam 8/1-2 |
|
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