ADVANCED LANDSCAPE ECOLOGY
Zoology/Forest/Botany 879
SYLLABUS:
http://www.zoology.wisc.edu/courses/879/879_syllabus08.htm
READINGS
http://www.zoology.wisc.edu/courses/879/879_readings08.htm
INSTRUCTOR:
Dr. Monica G.
Turner, Zoology Department, 432 Birge Hall
(Tel:
262-2592; turnermg@wisc.edu)
CREDIT HOURS: 3
LEVEL: Open to graduate students.
PREREQUISITES:
• General Ecology
(e.g., Zoology/Botany/Forest-460 or equivalent) is required.
• Familiarity with
landscape ecology (e.g., Principles of Landscape Ecology, Forest/Zoology/Botany
565 or equivalent course or experience) is required.
• Some familiarity with geographic information systems (GIS), simulation modeling and basic statistics desirable.
CLASS SIZE: Admission limited to 20
students.
MEETING TIME: The course will meet on Wednesday and
Friday for 90 minutes (10-11:30 am) in either 163 Noland Hall of the New Media
Center, Helen C. White Building (computer lab). See syllabus for dates.
OBJECTIVES:
Landscape
ecology is an area of ecology that has grown tremendously during the past two
decades and emphasizes spatial patterning--its causes, development, and
importance for ecological processes.
Landscape ecology often focuses on ecological dynamics over large
regions. Students will delve into the
current concepts, methods, and applications of landscape ecology through (1)
class lectures; (2) reading and discussion of literature reflecting state-of-the-art
research in the field; (3) completion of nine hands-on exercises designed to
provide experience with some of the quantitative tools of landscape ecology;
(4) one take-home exam; and (5) completion of an independent project that
allows students to develop or apply these tools and concepts to their own
research.
The Advanced
Landscape Ecology course emphasizes the current state-of-the-science of
landscape ecology and the common quantitative methods used in landscape
ecology; it is recommended for students who are conducting research in this
area rather than for students who seek an introduction or general overview of
the field. The 2-credit course,
Principles of Landscape Ecology (565), taught in alternate springs by Dr. David
J. Mladenoff provides an overview of the background and concepts of landscape
ecology. The principles course provides
an introduction for students who wish to gain familiarity with landscape
ecology. Knowledge equivalent to what is
covered in Principles of Landscape Ecology is assumed as the basis for Advanced
Landscape Ecology. Students who have no background in landscape ecology are strongly
recommended to take 565 instead!
COURSE STRUCTURE:
Class meetings
will generally include either a brief lecture followed by student-lead
discussion of assigned readings, or hand-on lab exercises in the computer lab
designed to introduce students to the quantitative methods used in landscape
ecology. There are also some extended
discussion periods scheduled, and two weeks for oral presentations of the
independent projects (those are always fun classes!)
Special this
year: The US-IALE annual meetings will take place
at Monona Terrace, April 6-10, 2008. This is quite an opportunity for students
to hear about current research and meet the many landscape ecologists who will
be attending. For further information, visit:
http://www.usiale.org/madison2008/.
This course
emphasizes readings from the recent primary literature, and typically four
papers will be discussed each week. Every
student is expected to have read the assignments before class and be prepared
to discuss the papers.
Responsibility for leading discussion will be rotated among all
students. Discussion leaders should
raise questions or issues to be discussed; be prepared with an evaluation of
the significant contributions of the paper; and facilitate discussion among the
group (see additional notes below).
Background
selections from the Turner et al. (2001) landscape ecology text are also listed
for each week, and most lab exercises are found in Gergel and Turner (2002).
Both books were ordered by the University Bookstore on State Street and are
also available elsewhere (e.g., Amazon.com).
Turner,
M. G., R. H. Gardner, and R. V. O’Neill.
2001. Landscape ecology in theory
and practice. Springer-Verlag, New
York.
Gergel,
S. E. and M. G. Turner, editors. 2002.
Learning landscape ecology.
Springer-Verlag, New York.
Electronic
readings will be available through your “My UW” web page; go to the Academics
heading, find our course, and click on electronic reserves.
LEADING
DISCUSSION:
Each student
will have the opportunity to lead the class discussion of assigned weekly
readings. All students will have read
the papers prior to class, so the discussion leader should not provide a detailed review of the paper. The discussion leader should provide a brief
summary of the main topic of the paper, just to remind everyone of which paper
is being considered. Here are some tips
for being effective at leading discussion.
i.
Summarize for yourself some of the important points about
the paper. It’s often useful to have a
set of questions that you answer while planning discussion. For example, consider the following: What is the main conceptual contribution of
the paper? Why might it be important or
influential? Is it a representative
example? Does it propose a new direction or idea? How does this paper relate to other papers or
general concepts with which you are familiar?
Are there any new approaches represented? Are there any problems with the study? How does this reflect the current state of
the science?
ii.
Prepare in advance some open-ended questions that you
can pose to the group to get the discussion going. Remember that questions with a “yes” or “no”
answer do not facilitate a discussion!
Feel free to call on people if there is silence!
iii.
Keep the discussion moving by including all members of the
group (this means calling on reticent members of the group and gently
redirecting individuals who may dominate) and by curtailing discussion that
goes off into tangents or dead ends.
iv.
Try to summarize and synthesize as things go along. It’s often helpful to use a mechanism like,
“So far, we’ve identified the following main contributions of this paper:
….
PARTICIPATING
IN DISCUSSION:
Discussions are only effective
for all when everyone is prepared and has perspectives to contribute. Everyone
is expected to have read the assignment before class and given thought to the
paper’s content and context. A good
strategy for being prepared is to write down a couple of questions or
observations about each paper as you are reading it. This class benefits tremendously from the
diverse interests and backgrounds of the students, and we all learn a lot by
listening to one another!
LABORATORY EXERCISES:
A set of
hands-on exercises will be assigned to provide students with experience in
various aspects of landscape ecology, particularly the quantitative analyses
and modeling often used in landscape ecology. Labs will take place during
Friday class periods (see syllabus for dates).
Concise written reports will be turned in for each exercise the
following week.
Make sure you always read the lab exercise prior to
coming to the class session. You will
not usually complete the lab during the time period, but you’ll get going on
it. Write-ups must be short—your gain
comes from doing the lab and thinking about it, and I don’t want to make extra
busy work. Rule of thumb should be 2
pages (typed, single space) MAX unless you are told otherwise. Write-ups are due the following week. Instructions that are particular for each lab
will be given in class.
INDEPENDENT PROJECTS:
Project
Objectives:
Students will use landscape-level theory or approaches in an area of particular
interest to them, thereby allowing them to apply what they are learning to
their own research. Ideally, the project
will provide an opportunity for students to augment their current research
(e.g., thesis or dissertation work).
Students will also gain experience with the primary phases of conducting
a research study: preparation of a
proposal; execution of the study; preparation of a paper based on the study;
and oral presentation of the results in the format suitable for a scientific
meeting.
Topics: Recognizing that there is likely a wide array
of interests represented in the class, the choice of topic for the project is
not restricted. However, approval of a
student’s selection is required. Samples
of projects might be: (1) analyses of
spatial pattern of vegetation or land use in a study landscape; (2) synthesis
of literature on how an organism responds to changes in habitat heterogeneity,
with development of field-testable hypotheses, recommendations for
conservation, or reserve design; (3) development of a model to address an interaction
between pattern and process; (4) preparation of a management plan for a large
heterogeneous landscape.
Format for
Project Proposals: Proposals must be
typewritten, double spaced with one-inch margins, with a 3-page maximum length
excluding references (less length is acceptable and encouraged if well presented).
The following should be clearly covered:
Introduction/Background; Objectives/Questions; Methods; and Expected
Results. Proposals will be due in the
fourth week of the semester.
Format for
Project Reports: Reports must be
typewritten, double spaced with one-inch margins, and will be due at the
assigned final exam time. Projects
should not exceed 12 pages of text excluding references, figures, and
tables. The format should follow that used
for the journal Landscape Ecology. Instructions to authors will be given to the
students.
Guidelines for
Oral Presentations: Presentations
should be 10 minutes in length, to be followed by a 5-minute question
period. You should time your talk in advance,
as you would in preparation for a presentation at a scientific meeting. You may use Powerpoint. Make your
presentation as you would for a scientific meeting; that is, provide general
context, clearly state the question, describe your methods, present results,
and draw conclusions. Presentations will
be done in class during the final two weeks of the semester. The ‘audience’
will also provide feedback to each presenter.
Due Dates: See the course syllabus for due dates for
project proposals, final papers, and presentation dates.
GRADING:
Grades will be
based on the laboratory exercises (30%), class participation and leading
discussion (15%), take-home midterm exam (20%), and the final project (35%
total: proposal 5%, oral presentation
5%, written report 25%).
COFFEE
AND SNACKS
Coffee and snacks are the key discussion lubricant for graduate classes that meet in the morning, and we have a tradition of this in the Advanced Landscape Ecology class. Monica will provide the coffee; traditionally, we’ve had each student sign up for a day to bring a snack for each of the non-laboratory classes. Competition for the best tasting treat can be fierce! Help from the class to clean up the coffee pot and the room at the end of each class period is encouraged and appreciated. We are expected to leave the departmental meeting room in better order than we found it. Thanks for you cooperation in this!