Major topics are: structure and dynamics of population systems, population demography, sampling, life-tables, temperature-dependent development, predation, competition, dispersal, population stability and pest outbreaks. The course covers contemporary topics in population ecology such as chaos in population dynamics, spatial processes, catastrophe theory, application of geostatistics, etc. Also, it gives intensive practice of using computers for solving quantitative problems in biology. Computer labs are based on Microsoft Excel software. Lab reports should be prepared in Microsoft Word.
|Mid-term exam (open book)|| 13%|
|Final exam (open book)||15%|
|Lab reports (6)||60% (each report = 10%)|
Hastings, A. 1997. Population Biology. Concepts and Models. Springer-Verlag, New York.
Begon M., Mortimer M. 1981. Population ecology: a unified study of animals and plants. Blackwell, Oxford.
Berryman, A.A. 1981. Population Systems: A General Introduction. Plenum Press, New York.
Caughley, G. 1978. Analysis of vertebrate populations. John Wiley, Chichester.
Goodenough L.J. and McKinion, J.M. 1992. Basics of Insect Modelling. American Soc. of Agric. Engineers, St. Joseph (MI).
Hutchinson, G.E. 1978. An introduction to population ecology. Yale Univ. Press, New Haven.
Jeffers J.N.R. 1978. An introduction to systems analysis: with ecological applications. Edward Arnold, London.
Logan, J.A. and Hain, F.P. (eds.) 1991. Chaos and insect ecology. VPI&SU, Blacksburg.
Maynard Smith J. 1974. Models in ecology. Cambridge Univ. Press, Cambridge.
Pedigo, L.P. 1989. Entomology and pest management. Macmillan, New York.
Pielou, E.C. 1976. Population and community ecology. Gordon and Breach Sci. Publ. New York.
Renshaw E. 1991. Modelling populations in space and time. Cambridge Univ. Press, Cambridge.
Royama, T. 1992. Analytical population dynamics. Chapman and Hall, New York.
Southwood, T.R.E. 1978. Ecological methods with special reference to the study of insect populations. Chapman and Hall, New York.
Varley, G.C., Gradwell, G.R., and Hassell, M.P. 1973. Insect population ecology: an analytical approach. Blackwell, Oxford.
Alexei Sharov 9/9/96