Courses

I will be teaching the following courses in the 2008-2009 academic year:

Bio 16 (Ecology)

Course description:  We will explore the ecological mechanisms governing patterns in the distribution and abundance of plants and animals, the population dynamics of complex species interactions, and the transformation and flux of energy and matter. We will also investigate the ecological basis of environmental issues, such as biological control of invasive species and human-induced changes in nutrient cycling. Laboratories focus on experimental and quantitative analyses of local ecosystems, with an emphasis on field studies.

Bio 55 (Biology Foreign Studies Program)

Course description:  The Biology Foreign Studies Program (Biology 55, 56, 57) exposes students, through intensive, full-immersion study, to Earth’s most diverse biological communities. Biology 56 is a continuation of Biology 55; these courses comprise the first two-thirds of the FSP, and focus on land (tropical forests) and tropical freshwater ecosystems in Costa Rica. Biology 57 focuses on coral reef ecosystems in the Caribbean. Students are challenged to know, understand and appreciate the diversity of form and function in organisms, and the interactions that generate the often-spectacular patterns they see in the field. Habitats in Costa Rica include lowland rain forest, cloud forest, dry forest, montane forest, alpine paramo, streams and wetlands. The schedule is full, including fieldwork, laboratories, lectures and discussions, with emphasis on original research, mostly in small groups of 2-3. Faculty and advanced graduate TAs share field accommodations with students, and are in continuous contact as mentors, day and evening, throughout the program. Students master field and analytical methods (including hypothesis testing, statistical and software skills) for observational and experimental research. We pursue a great variety of research topics, including plant-pollinator and plant-herbivore interactions, processes driving coral reef structure (and coral reef decline), determinants of species distributions, animal behavior, and conservation ecology. Students practice the classic scientific approach: making observations, asking testable questions, generating hypotheses, developing experimental protocols, collecting data, making statistical inferences, writing scientific papers, and presenting seminars. Research papers are published in an annual book. Accommodations are at field stations in Costa Rica, and at a marine laboratory in the Caribbean.

Bio 133 (Foundations of Ecological and Evolutionary Biology)

Course description:  This course is a reading seminar in which graduate students will read and discuss a series of contemporary papers taken from the primary literature on various topics in ecology and evolutionary biology.