Biology 22800, Ecology and Evolution

For the Spring 2005 semester, I am coordinating Biology 228 (including teaching both the lecture and laboratory section).  Click here to go to Laboratory webpage

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Lecture: Wednesday, 6:30–8:10 p.m., Room J-702

Laboratory: Monday, 6:10–10:00 p.m., Rooms J-822/J-819

 

Instructor: Dr. Robert P. Anderson, Assistant Professor, City College of CUNY

Office: J-817 Marshak Science Building; Telephone: 212-650-8504

Office hours: Wednesday, 2:00–5:00 p.m. (will be held either in J-817 or J-810)

E-mail: anderson@sci.ccny.cuny.edu (for scheduling issues)

Webpage: http://web.sci.ccny.cuny.edu/~anderson/

Course webpage: http://web.sci.ccny.cuny.edu/~anderson/teaching/eespring06/

Laboratory webpage: http://web.sci.ccny.cuny.edu/~anderson/teaching/eelabspring06/

 

Textbook, required: Krohne, D.T. 2001, General Ecology, 2nd edition. Brooks/Cole, Pacific Grove, CA. ISBN 0-534-37528-6

Laboratory manual: Gallagher, J.C. and O'Connor, T. (editors) 2003. Laboratory Manual for Ecology and Evolution. City College of New York, New York, NY.

Course overview and philosophy: Ecology and Evolution examines a spectrum of biological processes, with emphasis on their application to the population and community levels of organization. The course combines conceptual and quantitative approaches to topics including ecology, ecosystems, biogeography, genetics, evolution, and systematics, as these areas apply to populations and communities of organisms.  The laboratory is a series of exercises and experiments designed to introduce students to data collection and analysis, including interpretation of laboratory and field experiences.

 

Prerequisites: One semester of calculus (Math 105) is a pre-requisite, as well as Biology 101 and 102 with a grade of C or better (or permission of the Departmental Chairman).  A second semester of calculus and statistics is a co-requisite (Math 209); Math 209 and Bio 228 are designed to be taken together.

 

Attendance and Lateness Policy: Lectures and laboratories begin promptly, and you are required to be on time.  Attendance in the laboratory, including field trips, is required.  Absence from more than two lectures or two laboratory periods (including field trips) can result in your being dropped from the course for excessive absences (WU).

Grading: Grades will be assigned based on the lecture (50 %) and laboratory (50 %).  If you know that you will miss an exam, contact me as soon as possible so that you can take the exam in advance.  Make-up exams will be allowed only for documented excused absences (e.g., death in the family, extreme sickness).  Plagiarism will dealt with subject to CCNY policies.

Lecture, based on:
3 equally weighted exams (including final)	40 %
Weekly quizzes	10 %
Laboratory, based on:
Lab exercises and computer simulations	25 %
Lab exams	20 %
Class participation	5 %

Lecture: There will be 2 lecture examinations plus a final exam. Each exam will test material covered in lecture, handouts, and simulations.  Lecture will begin each week with a quiz.

Laboratory: Each student will be required to hand in 8 short exercises (lab reports).  Reports are due promptly at the beginning of the next lab.  Reports that are one day late will have a grade reduction of 10%.  Any report more than one day late is an automatic zero.  All lab reports must be typed.  No reports will be accepted by e-mail.  The lowest report will be dropped.  Students who miss lab due to an unexcused absence will receive an automatic zero for that lab report.  While some laboratory data will be collected by team efforts, each student is required to submit his or her own reports.  There are also three field trips, one of which is a self-guided tour of selected exhibits in the American Museum of Natural History.  The other two are to Inwood Hill Park and to Van Cortlandt Park with the laboratory instructor.

Support Facilities: The Departmental Resource Center is in Room J-502, and the Computer Facility is in Room J-819.  The Mathematics Department computer lab is in R0/511.  Many of the same Excel simulations are used in Math 209.

 

Lecture schedule (note changes in red):

Date	Topic	Readings (Krohne)
Wed. 1 Feb.	Levels of organization, niche	Ch. 1, 3, plus pp. 221–222
Wed. 8 Feb.	Population growth: geometric, exponential, and logistic growth; life tables	Ch. 4, plus pp. 182–185
Wed. 15 Feb.	Species interactions: interspecific competition and predation	Ch. 9 (especially pp. 234–240), 10
Wed. 22 Feb.	Community structure, succession, and disturbance	Ch. 11, 13
Wed. 1 Mar.	EXAM 1
Wed. 8 Mar.	Species richness and diversity, metapopulations, and island biogeography	Ch. 12, plus pp. 126–128
Wed. 15 Mar.	Global climate, biomes, and biogeochemical cycles	Ch. 14, 15, 16
Wed. 22 Mar.	History of evolution, Darwin, Hardy-Weinberg equilibrium, fitness, and selection	Ch. 2, handouts
Wed. 29 Mar.	Genetic drift and molecular evolution	Ch. 2, handouts
Wed. 5 Apr.	EXAM 2
Wed. 26 Apr.	Guest scientist: Dr. Richard Pearson; topic: evolution of the niche	none
Wed. 3 May	Homology, phylogeny, and classification	handouts
Wed. 10 May	Speciation and macroevolution	handouts
Wed. 17 May	Historical biogeography and comparative biology	handouts
Finals week (19–26 May)	FINAL EXAM, date to be announced

 

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R. P. Anderson
Copyright © 2006.

All photographs by RPA

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Last modified: 22 March 2006 (RPA)

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