BZ5440:03
Ecology and Conservation
| Townsville | HECS Band 2 |
32 hours lectures, 9 hours tutorials, 18 hours practicals. Semester 2.
Available to students enrolled for the degrees of MSc (including a customised two-semester DipResMeth), MAppSc, BAppSc or a graduate diploma.
Staff: Dr C Johnson.
This subject is an introduction to the key ideas in the ecology of plants and animals. In presenting these ideas, the subject emphasises not only the ways in which they can be used to explain the distribution and abundance of species, but also their importance in helping us understand the causes of extinction and providing the scientific basis for management of species. Special emphasis is placed on the processes responsible for high diversity in tropical ecosystems. Topics include fertility and mortality; population dynamics and population regulation; life history strategies; interactions between species (competition, facilitation, predation, herbivory, parasitism); dynamics of communities; island biogeography; limits to the coexistence of species. Students will normally be expected to show proficiency in biometry before undertaking this subject.
Students will be required to attend lectures, practicals and tutorials in BZ2440 .
Learning Objectives:
- familiarity with key concepts in population and community ecology;
- appreciation of the relationship between ecological theory and conservation and management of natural populations and communities;
- ability to critically assess ecological hypotheses;
- understanding of ecological processes involved in the maintenance of high species diversity in tropical ecosystems.
Assessment by final examination (40%); essays (20%); tutorial participation (10%); practical assignments (30%).