Course Description
Ecosystem biogeochemical processes and the organism-organism, organism-environment interactions that regulate them. The relationship of ecosystem structure and function to foodwebs, global change, scaling, nonlinearity, self-organization, and approaches to study these.
Athena Title
ECOSYSTEM CONCEPTS
Equivalent Courses
Not open to students with credit in FORS 8322
Prerequisite
ECOL 4010/6010 or permission of department
Semester Course Offered
Offered spring
Grading System
A - F (Traditional)
Course Objectives
1. To introduce, define, evaluate and develop core concepts in ecosystem ecology through exploration of focal areas of current advances 2. To introduce different experimental/quantitative approaches in ecosystem ecology and explore the pros and cons of each By the end of this course, students will: 1. be familiar with key concepts underlying ecosystem ecology, the extent of the research the supports these concepts, and the most recent, cutting-edge research that tests these concepts; 2. be aware of the range of experimental/quantitative approaches and the practical and philosophical issues relating to their use; 3. be familiar with parallels and differences between terrestrial and aquatic ecosystem ecology in the context of concepts and approaches; 4. have developed their critical thinking and scientific discussion; 5. be practiced in writing of Federal grant-agency proposals.
Topical Outline
Each week the lectures and discussion will revolve around a focal area of current advances in ecosystem ecology. These focal areas are outlined in the table below. Week Lectures (2 x 1 h) & Discussion (1 x 2 h) 1 Course outline; historical introduction of ecosystem ecology, hypothesis testing in ecosystem ecology 2 Global change (elevated CO2, warming, N deposition, hydrology) 3 Biogeochemistry 4 Elemental stoichiometry 5 Food webs 6 Invasive species 7 Biodiversity and ecosystem function 8 Aboveground-belowground interactions; transition zones 9 Urban systems 10 Scaling (temporal & spatial) 11 Nonlinearity: synergies, feedbacks and thresholds 12 Approaches 1 (observation, modeling, experimental design: including validity & scaling; hypothesis testing; meta- analysis) 13 Approaches 2 (whole ecosystem manipulations; stable isotopes;molecular tools) 14 Student oral presentations 15 Student oral presentations cont. Lectures. Monday and Wednesday mornings: 1 h lectures, the first 55 min consisting of approx. 20 min PowerPoint presentation by the instructors interspersed by approx. 35 min student-directed inquiry, and ending with a 5 min, group-led, closing summary. This format is intended to introduce key aspects of the focal area through the PowerPoint presentation and to develop key aspects, or other aspects related to the focal area, through student questioning. The objective of this format is to go into greatest depth about those areas of the material which are of most interest to the class. Prior to each lecture the students will be assigned reading of 1 to 3 recent review papers that deals with current advances and potential future directions for the focal area. Weeks 1-11: Introduction to the central principles, theories and questions of ecosystem ecology through exploration of focal areas of current advances. Weeks 12-13: Introduction to the approaches for research in ecosystem ecology, with particular emphasis on the concepts and assumptions behind them. The expectation is that many of these approaches will have been introduced and/or examined in previous lectures or discussion. These two weeks are to develop the exploration of a subset of approaches considered key to current advances in ecosystems ecology. There will be no discussion in these weeks (see Section: �Class paper�). Seminars. Friday mornings, 2 h discussion. Weeks 1-3: Instructor-led. Weeks 4-11: Student-led discussions. Discussions will center around 1 to 2 recent (within last 24 months) studies, published in the peer-reviewed, primary literature, related to the focal area of the week�s lectures. The purposes of the seminars are to explore contemporary concepts (i.e. principles or theories) in ecosystem ecology in greater depth than facilitated by a lecture approach, to practice/develop verbal expression and reasoning, to practice critical review, and, in the context of the student-led discussions, to develop further effective leadership of discussion. To frame the discussions (for the student-led discussions), students will work in pairs and these leaders are expected to produce a discussion plan, to have read more widely than the class assigned reading about the concept, to guide the discussion, and following the discussion provide a 1-2 page class summary in the following format: (a) Definition of the concept/question tackled (b) The research that led to &/or supports this concept/question (c) How, if at all, the concept/question should be modified in light of the most recent research (d) What are the outstanding questions central &/or related to the concept/question (e) How one would test these questions For lectures, class instructors will produce a similar handout, which addresses (a) to (d). For �approaches� lectures these handouts will follow the format below: (a) Definition of the approach (b) Utilities of the approach (c) Pros (d) Cons (e) Examples of use Class paper Final papers will be in the form of an NSF Dissertation Improvement Grant (DIG) proposal. The central idea for the proposal will be developed with the class instructors and will relate to a real or anticipated research question, with an ecosystem focus, that ideally would compliment the student�s dissertation research. Once the central idea for this proposal has been approved (by Week 5), it will proceed as follows: 1. The project summary (200 words), project description (5 pages,12 pt font) and budget with justification following NSF DIG guidelines will be required. The project description will be reduced from the 8 pages required by NSF, but in all other aspects will follow NSF style and formatting guidelines. This proposal will be due the Monday of Week 10. 2. Weeks 10 and 11. Students will be divided into four groups of four. Each individual in a group will be assigned the same four proposals to peer-review following NSF reviewer guidelines and the ethical guidelines of the ESA. 3. Week 12. Students will receive the four peer-reviews and produce a response to reviewers. This response will be 1 page maximum. The reviews, the response and the proposal (modified in light of the reviews) will be turned in the Monday of Week 13 and then assigned to a group, which did not review the original proposal, for panel review. 4. Week 13. Panel review. Each panel will assess four proposals and produce a summary and recommendation as per NSF format. Summaries and recommendations are due to the class instructors the Monday of Week 14, who will then grade each student on their DIG, individual reviews (by them, not of their work) and panel reviews. There will be no discussions Weeks 12 and 13, to enable time for generating responses to reviewers (Week 12), for panel reviews (Week 13) and for finalization of class presentations (Weeks 14 & 15). Class presentations These will be based on the DIG proposals, with each student presenting for 12 min (using PowerPoint), with a further 5 min for questions. Three presentations will be given per Mon, Wed, Fri class of Weeks 14 and 15, except for the final class on Friday of Week 15. This final class will be used for course evaluation and student involvement in course development for the next academic year. Responsibilities Students and instructor: 1. to have read all material and prepared written notes (for individual use in the class; not to hand-in) prior to each class 2. to participate fully in discussion 3. to embrace differences in opinion without intellectual or emotional judgment 4. to maintain the agreed focus of discussion Grading policy Grades will be composed of the following elements: 30% class participation (presence, contribution, originality, enthusiasm, preparation, discussion guides and syntheses) 30% final paper (NSF DIG proposal) 20% individual and panel reviews of DIGs 20% final presentation Grade bands A 90% and above B 80% - 89% C 70% - 79% D 60% - 69% F less than 60% Late assignment policy 5% from the final grade for each piece of work per day late, up to 15% in total grade reduction. Missed class policy Unless appropriate paperwork received (e.g., doctor�s note), or previously agreed with class instructors, 5% from the final grade for class participation per absence up to 10% in total grade reduction.
Syllabus