Lecture topics

• Historical development of population ecology
• The nature of ecological models
• Attributes of populations
• Defining the entities
• Abundance
• Dispersion
• Mortality patterns
• Recruitment schedules
• Life-history theory
• The mathematical description of populations
• Life tables
• The age- or stage-classified matrix model
• Applications, limitations, & extensions
• The determination of abundance
• Population regulation & other feedback systems
• Exogenous forces & stochastic models
• Spatial patterns & processes
• Case studies from pest management, harvested populations, epidemiogy, conservation biology, human demography, and community ecology