Instructor: Dr. H.
Maurice Valett, 1020A Derring Hall, Department of Biology
Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University
Blacksburg, VA 24061
Spring
2008 T,
R 2:00 - 3:15 Davdison Hall 3
Office Hours: Monday 8:30am-9:30pm & Friday 10:30am-12:00 pm
phone: 540-231-2065, fax: 540-231-9307, email: mvalett@vt.edu
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Course Specs:
Biology 2804 3 credits |
Course Description:
This course deals with the study of the interactions among living things and their environments. As an introductory course in ecology, we will cover the representative areas of study that make up the modern field. These include the following categories of ecology and associated topics. individuals: Autecology studies individual organisms and how they deal with environmental stresses. What kinds of responses or behavior do they exhibit? populations: What is a population? What regulates their size? Population ecology deals with the dynamics of a number of individuals of the same species and investigates interactions among populations. communities: Community ecology looks at the distribution, diversity and abundance of organisms and how they interact with each other. ecosystems: Ecosystem ecology recognizes biota as part of a physical, chemical and biological system that interacts to impact the flow of energy and the movement of materials. What key processes impact the production and consumption of organic matter or determine the movement of nutrients through forests, fields, lakes or oceans? landscapes: Ecosystems are distributed across the earth's surface and their arrangement over large spatial scales is the topic of landscape ecology. Modern studies of the landscape recognize that how ecosystems are distributed impacts the movement of organisms, the propagation of disease and the effects of disturbance. |
| Text Book, Syllabus and Course Structure: |
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!!! Class Notes and Graphics !!!
The text represents a major resource for the course. We will follow the text closely and many of the graphics presented in the text will be used in class. Through a special agreement with McGraw-Hill these graphics are available as Powerpoint or JPG files in the directory provided below. The graphics are organized by lecture and chapter. You Will Need to Download These Images And Bring them To Class! !! I will assume that each of you have these materials with you during lecture. It will be very difficult to follow lecture accurately without them. You will need your course
password to access these images. Go access these files initiate the
following link: Other important links: |
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