Most contemporary empirical and theoretical ecology focuses on 
the ecological interactions of individuals and populations on 
small temporal and spatial scales.  Macroecology takes a much 
larger perspective and explores recent concepts for the 
organization and maintenance of biological diversity on 
landscape to continental spatial scales and on deep-time 
paleobiological scales.  The objective of the course is to 
expose students to ecological questions at these large scales 
and to the variety of approaches for attacking them.

1. Macroecology as an emerging discipline
2. Regulation of the biosphere
3. Global vegetation, energy and water.
4. The distribution and abundance of species at large scales
5. Macroecological scaling relationships and global biodiversity
6. The neutral theory of biodiversity and biogeography
7. The dynamics of ecological communities at large scales
8. Biodiversity: a deep-time perspective
9. Community ecology: a paleobiological perspective
10. Historical biogeography and phylogeography
11. Extinctions, past, present and future
12. Human ecology in a macroecological perspective
13. Conservation and the future of life on Earth

I expect that student's work will be their own individual effort
unless explicit permission is granted for group projects.  If the
latter is granted, then the group will be asked to provide a
clear description of the contribution of each member of the group
to the final product.