Biology 81: Introduction to Ecology

Class Meeting times: Tue/Thu 10:30 – 11:50am | 5 units | Remote

Synchronous Instruction; Lecture Zoom Link: fake-zoom-link.us.1343423

Instructor

Dr. Apples

What is Introduction to Ecology? How do species interact with each other and their environments? How do these interactions affect ecological phenomena - like fire frequency or emerging infectious diseases - that are important for humans? How do we move from questions to hypotheses to experiments to conclusions in the process of ecological research? In this course, students will explore the foundational observations, experiments, and theories of the field of ecology. Students will learn about ecological concepts and how humans interact with ecosystems. Students will build skills in observation, critical reading, communication, experimentation, and ecological theory. This course will introduce you to the first principles of the science of ecology, the study of interactions between organisms and their environment. This course satisfies Central Menu Area 4 and is also certified for the Scientific Method and Analysis (SMA) Ways.

Discussion sections:

Thursday 4:30-5:30PM or 6:30-7:30PM; Friday 10:00-11:00AM, 11:30AM 12:30PM, 1:00-2:00PM, or 2:30-3:30PM.

Course Description and Objectives.

This course will teach students how to use the science of ecology to understand the natural world and will prepare students to be practicing biologists and ecologically aware citizens. By the close of this course, students will be able to:

(i) Apply ecological theories to understand new ecological problems

(ii) Formulate hypotheses and the evidence needed to assess them, and apply these skills to evaluate primary scientific literature

(iii) Evaluate the strengths and weaknesses of observational, statistical, and modeling techniques used by ecologists to test hypotheses

Section Objectives. Weekly sections will work toward these main objectives:

(i) Reviewing and reinforcing lecture material

(ii) Building a toolkit of skills with which to do ecology

(ii) Critically reading and discussing primary scientific literature

(iii) Applying key concepts through computer labs and other activities

Textbook.

Ecology, 4th Edition by Bowman, Cain & Hacker, from Oxford University Press. Must be 4th edition!

Role of Textbook Readings.

Readings associated with each topic we cover are listed at the end of the syllabus. The readings will greatly supplement the lectures and aid in your understanding of material covered in lecture. Some subjects are covered in much more detail in the assigned readings. You are responsible primarily for information presented during lecture. Topics presented ONLY in the textbooks and not in class, sections, or assignments, will not be on the exams.

Grading.

1) 25% lab attendance and participation

2) 15% weekly pre-section assignments

3) 30% post-section assignments / quizzes

4) 30% weekly lecture concept check assignments

Lab Attendance and Participation (25%) - Science is a group endeavor and we expect each person to contribute fully in class and in labs. In labs, you will spend a majority of section time working collaboratively in small groups. Attendance and participation in a 1 hr long discussion lab once a week is required and will count for 25% of your grade. There will be a total of 10 labs during the quarter. You must attend and participate in at least 9 out 10 labs to earn the full 25% credit.

Pre-section homework assignments (15%) - The exercises in labs will reinforce, apply, and build on the content presented in lecture. To get the most out of limited lab time, we will assign graded pre-lab assignments that help prepare you for the activities we will do in lab. There will be a total of 10 pre-lab homework assignments of which your 9 best will be counted and will contribute towards 15% of your grade.

Post-lab assignments (30%) - There will be a total of 10 post-lab homework assignments, of which your 9 best will be counted and will contribute towards 30% of your grade. These assignments will solidify and assess what you learned in the lab activities. Post-lab assignments are due after labs on Mondays. Late post-lab assignments will be accepted as long as they are submitted within 5 days of the due date but will result in an automatic 20% deduction.

Lecture Concept Check assignments (30%) - These will test you on key concepts from lecture. There will be 10 such assignments of which your 9 best will be counted and will contribute towards 30% of your grade. Assignment due dates TBD.

Assignment Submission Policy. You are expected to attend the labs you signed up for and turn in assignments by the specified times. I understand that students may need to miss labs or request extensions because of illness or personal emergencies; in these cases, please contact me.

Students with Documented Disabilities

Students who may need an academic accommodation based on the impact of a disability must initiate the request with the Office of Accessible Education (OAE). Professional staff will evaluate the request with required documentation, recommend reasonable accommodations, and prepare an Accommodation Letter for faculty dated in the current quarter in which the request is made. Students should contact the OAE as soon as possible since timely notice is needed to coordinate accommodations.

Students should e-mail their OAE letter to skylerc@stanford.edu and cc wkhalfan@stanford.edu in the first 2 weeks of the quarter or as soon as it is issued since timely notice is needed to coordinate accommodations. Once you e-mail us your letter, we will be in touch with you to let you know how we plan to accommodate you.

First Generation and Low-Income Students

In this course, we seek to create an engaging learning environment for students from all backgrounds. If a student has concerns about materials for the course, they should contact the instructor for support. There are also numerous resources for students on campus.

Building an online learning community

In Bio81, we seek to develop a friendly and mutually supportive learning community. Developing a sense of community can be challenging in an online course format, and we ask all participants in this course to make an effort to get to know each other and support each other’s learning and general well-being. We seek to create an environment where everyone feels comfortable enough to contribute to the group, make mistakes, and grow intellectually.

To that end, we ask that everyone commit to participating actively in all discussions and labs. Your level of engagement will be recorded as part of your grade, and will help to establish a thriving learning community. We also require that everyone have cameras on while in Zoom lectures to improve the sense of community for peers and lecturers alike.

Plagiarism Policy

You are required to adhere to the principles of the honor policy in preparing and submitting your responses to all the assignments. You may work together on assignments but you must each write your own answers individually as part of the honor policy. You are also required to report incidents where you have knowledge of violations of the honor policy.