Biology 437 Tropical Field Ecology 1999

Next offered Spring 2001

Books:

Course objectives: My objectives for this course are many, but center around two main goals. 1) To provide you with experience carrying out the process of ecological investigation and 2) To introduce you to some important aspects of the ecology of tropical ecosystems with some consideration of the interactions of people and nature. The first goal is central to how I have conceived the course - as an opportunity to do ecological field research from start to finish: with inspiration coming from reading what others have done; conceiving ideas about what you would like to do and constructing a formal proposal; facing the real world in the field and having to make decisions about what might really be possible to do; and working in groups to gather data, analyze, write up and present the results to the broader community. These objectives could be realized in any number of different types of ecological communities, even around here in winter, but the tropics are a special place to become inspired about studying ecology. It has been important in the history of ecology, for me personally, and here is an opportunity to make it important for your development as an ecologist. The ecology of tropical systems is intimately affected by the human populations that live in and near them. This has been true for thousands of years, but the human effects are becoming increasingly apparent as populations grow and people strive for a higher "standard of living". Any consideration of the ecology of tropical regions must therefore factor in the human element.

#	Date	Topic	Readings
		Tropical Ecosystems
1	20 Jan	What are the tropics?	NC Ch 1; TN Ch 1
2	22 Jan	My inspiration - the paramo	NC pp 223-224; Darwin 1855 Pfitsch 1994
3	27 Jan	Tropical Ecosystems other than Tropical Forest	Group presentations NC Ch 9, 10, 11
4	29 Jan	Mesoamerican Forest Ecosystems	Hartshorn 1988
		Wet and Dry Tropical Forests
5	3 Feb	La Selva and Palo Verde -	TN all; NC Ch 2
6	5 Feb	more; model paper presentation	"
7	10 Feb	presentations on La Selva research*
8	12 Feb	presentations on Palo Verde research
		Topics in Tropical Ecology	BB Ch 1 and 2; (BB all)
9	17 Feb	Tropical Diversity Lecture	NC Ch 4
10	19 Feb	Evolution of diversity papers
11	24 Feb	Ecology of diversity papers
12	26 Feb	Importance of Tree Fall Gaps	TN Ch 3; NC pp 57-74
13	3 Mar	Tree Fall Gaps papers
14	5 Mar	Gaps papers and Group work on proposals
15	10 Mar	Proposals presented to class
16	12 Mar	Depart for Costa Rica	Continental Flt 3653; 2:10 pm
		Field Work at Palo Verde and La Selva, Costa Rica
17	31 Mar	Herbivory	TN Ch 7 and 8
18	2 Apr	Herbivory of Leaves papers
19	7 Apr	Herbivory of Fruits papers
20	9 Apr	Paradox of Production Lecture Nutrient cycling and agriculture	Wallace, A. R. 1878; NC pp 44-57 & Ch 7; TN Ch 2; BB Ch 3
21	14 Apr	Nutrient cycling papers
		Tropical Human Ecology
22	16 Apr	Tropical Forests and Global CO2 l
23	21 Apr	Student lectures
24	23 Apr	Student lectures
25	28 Apr	Student lectures
26	30 Apr	Student lectures
27	5 May	Student lectures
28	7 May	Tropical Ecology Poster Presentation

* topics in italics are classes that will be student- lead discussions of papers from the Tropical Ecology literature; papers will be assigned at least 1 week before the class.