Quantitative Ecology

Ecology concerns the fundamental patterns, interactions and flows of organisms and materials in natural biological systems. Why are some organisms found here, and not there? Why do plants and animals look and work like they do? What makes their populations large or small, or change in size? Why do some organisms co-exist together, and others not? Why is there so much diversity? In understanding these questions, we gain critical insight into how populations and communities have evolved, how energy and biomass flow through ecosystems, and how populations and communities respond to changes in their environment. These changes may result from natural disturbances such as changes in climate, through altered disease prevalence or competition, or from human modification of habitats, over-harvesting, or pollution. In this course, we will explore ecological thinking, relevant field methods, modelling, and the application of key ecological concepts to understanding and conserving natural communities and ecosystems. We will see how organisms from the major biological kingdoms have provided key insights into our understanding of the ecology of organisms, populations, communities, and ecosystems, the importance of scale, and how this influences key ecosystem processes. This course will take a data-driven and theoretical approach to the field of ecology, focusing on the role of modelling for understanding processes.