This course provides students the necessary tools to begin evaluating how ecological populations and communities are structured and how perturbations alter these systems. The course begins by introducing students to concepts of single population dynamics such as density-dependence and independence, population limitation, population regulation, population equilibria and stability, stochastic population dynamics and chaos. This part of the course introduces the mathematical tools needed to analyze these important aspects of population dynamics. The second portion of the course involves linking several single population dynamical models to explore more complex multispecies interactions such as predation, disease ecology, and competition. Finally, the student learns how to mathematically examine the dynamics of ecological food chains and food webs to examine key issues such as the relationship between diversity and stability of natural ecosystems.
Considerable emphasis is placed on mathematical modeling.
Mathematics becomes a useful tool because it helps formalize ideas about species interactions, it provides a yardstick to gauge the importance of different species interactions, and it can help specify the appropriate focus of empirical research and help define suitable study designs for data gathering. Wildlife Conservation Ecology introduces the student to concepts related to gathering and applying scientific information for problem solving in wildlife conservation. The course explores conceptually the kinds of ecological knowledge needed for wildlife conservation. Students also learn how to formalize that knowledge for effective decision-making. Relevance to real-world problem solving is the central focus of the course and students are exposed to numerous examples of applications throughout the term.