NRS 223 Conservation of Populations and Ecosystems

Important Names and Numbers:

Instructor: Mr. Jeff W. Hollister
Office: Coastal Institute in Kingston - Room 25
Phone: 874 - 5054
Email:
Office hours: By appointment
Time and Place: Coastal Institute in Kingston Room 100, Tuesday/Thursday 11-12:15

Class Website:

Text: Primack, Richard B. 2002. Essentials of Conservation Biology, Ed. 3. Sinauer Associates, Inc. Sunderland, MA Available in the Bookstore

Course Overview and Goals

Over the last several hundred years, human population has increased exponentially and has resulted in loss and fragmentation of habitat, increased extinction of species, and a reduction of genetic diversity in remaining populations. The scientific, economic, social, and ethical impacts of these losses are not fully understood. Thus, we have a great need to examine these issues in detail and begin to understand the consequences of an increased human presence on the Earth's biodiversity. The creation of the field of conservation biology is a response to this need.

Throughout this course we will explore many of the issues that are responsible for the decline in biodiversity and through these explorations you will be able to

· Apply basic scientific and ecological theory to conservation issues
· Understand the economical, historical, ethical underpinnings of current
conservation efforts
· Discuss the importance of several current conservation issues
· Discuss several tools used in conservation projects
· Enter, manipulate and analyze data to answer relevant conservation
questions
· Prepare and present a short talk on a timely conservation issue.

Course Expectations:

It is expected that all students will come to class having finished the assigned readings and will be ready to listen attentively and participate in class discussions. This course will be run a little differently than most. For most of the class meetings we will have guest speakers presenting on a variety of topics integral to conservation biology. This will greatly benefit the course in that it will emphasize the multidisciplinary nature of conservation biology. We will devote approximately 45-60 minutes to each speaker. The remaining time will be used for questions and review.

Cheating and plagiarism will not be tolerated and will be dealt with according to Section 1 of the University Student Handbook. If you do not have a copy of the student handbook, one may be obtained at

Course Schedule:

  1. Tues 21 Jan 2003 - Jeff Hollister - Woodward 216
  2. Excel Exercise 1 Handed Out
  3. Thurs 23 Jan 2003 - Jeff Hollister - Woodward 216
    Reading: pp 3-10 (Primack), Intro Material (Excel Ex. 1)
  4. What is Conservation Biology?
  5. Excel Exercise 1 Introductory Discussion
  6. Tues 28 Jan 2003 - Tom Husband - CIK 100
    Reading: pp11-24 and Chap. 6 (Primack)
  7. History of Conservation and Conservation Ethics
  8. Thurs 30 Jan 2003 - Ginger Brown - CIK 100
    Reading: pp 27-39 and Chap. 3 (Primack)
  9. What, where and why of Biodiversity?
  10. Tues 4 Feb 2003 - Stephen Swallow - CIK 100
    Reading: Chapters 4 and 5 (Primack)
  11. Economic Value of Biodiversity
  12. Thurs 6 Feb 2003 - Tom Husband - CIK 100
    Reading: pp 39-42 and 302-317 (Primack)
  13. Ecology Basics: Genetics and Conservation
  14. Tues 11 Feb 2003 - EXAM 1 - Woodward 21
  15. Thurs 13 Feb 2003 - Scott McWilliams - CIK 100
    Reading: pp 1-26 (Akcakaya et al. - on reserve)
  16. Ecology Basics: Populations and Conservation
  17. Tues 18 Feb 2003 - Graham Forrester - CIK 100
    Reading: pp 43-58 (Primack)
  18. Ecology Basics: Communities, Ecosystems and Conservation
  19. Thurs 20 Feb 2003 - Rick Enser - CIK 100
    Reading: pp 189-203, 297-302, 321-327, 555-565, and 587-597 (Primack)
  20. Rare and Endangered Species
  21. Excel Exercise 1 Due
  22. Tues 25 Feb 2003 - Paul Buckley - CIK 100
    Reading: pp 174-185 and 348-351 (Primack)
  23. Metapopulations
  24. Thurs 27 Feb 2003 - Peter Paton - CIK 100
    Reading: Chap. 9 (Primack)
  25. Habitat Fragmentation and Connectivity
  26. Tues 4 March 2003 - Frank Golet - CIK 100
    Reading: Chap. 19 (Primack), Intro Material (Excel Ex. 2)
  27. Restoration and Conservation
  28. Excel Exercise 2 - Handed out and discussed
  29. Thurs 6 March 2003 - EXAM 2 - Woodward 216
  30. Tues 11 March 2003 - SPRING BREAK
  31. Thurs 13 March 2003 - SPRING BREAK
  32. Tues 18 March 2003 - Lisa Gould - CIK 100
    Reading: Box 12 and pp 276-291 (Primack)
  33. Invasive Species
  34. Thurs 20 March 2003 - Lisa Dabek - CIK 100
    Reading: Chapters 13-14 (Primack)
  35. Captive Breeding and Establishing New Populations
  1. Tues 25 March 2003 - Peter August - CIK 100
    Reading: Chap. 15 (Primack)
  2. GIS and Conservation: Establishing Protection Areas
  3. Thurs 27 March 2003 - Peter August - CIK 100
    Reading: Chap 16 (Primack)
  4. Reserve Design
  5. Excel Exercise 2 Due
  6. Tues 1 April 2003 - No Class - JWH at Landscape Ecology Meeting
  7. Thurs 3 April 2003 - No Class - JWH at Landscape Ecology Meeting
  8. Tues 8 April 2003 - Y.Q. Wang - CIK 100
    Reading: pp 832-834 (Turner et al. 2001 - on reserve)
  9. Remote Sensing and Conservation
  10. Thurs 10 April 2003 - Jeff Hollister - CIK 100
    Reading: Fragstats Background (McGarigal - on reserve)
  11. Landscape Ecology and Conservation
  12. Tues 15 April 2003 - EXAM 3 - Woodward 216
  13. Thurs 17 April 2003 - Jeff Hollister - Woodward 216
  14. Power Point Tutorial and Basic Presentation Skills
  15. Tues 22 April 2003 - Student Presentations
  16. Thurs 24 April 2003 - Student Presentations
  17. Tues 29 April 2003 - Student Presentations
  18. Thurs 1 May 2003 - Student Presentations
  19. Tues 6 May 2003 (Last Day of Classes) - Student Presentations

Grading and Assessment:

Exams (300 pts) - Three exams worth 100 pts each will be given. They will be a combination of multiple choice, short answer and one or two essay questions. There will be no final exam.

Make-up policy (as of 12 Feb 2003): There will be NO make up exams given. If you are forced to miss a scheduled exam, the value of the missed exam will be added to the next one (i.e., the next exam will be worth twice as much). If you know in advance that you'll be absent on the day of the exam, contact me no less than 7 days before the exam date and we may be able to accomodate your situation. Early exams will be given entirely at my discretion.

Old make-up policy (prior to 12 Feb 2003): Make-up exams will be given only with an approved university excuse (i.e., illness with a doctors note, death in the family). Should extenuating circumstances arise that require you to miss your exam, talk with me and we can schedule a time preferably before the scheduled exam date for you to take the exam. Make-up exams will likely be short answer/essay format.

Excel Exercises (100 pts) - These exercises will be an introduction/review to Microsoft Excel, basic statistics and some general conservation topics. You will be required to create graphs, calculate several basic statistics and discuss the use of these statistics. Details will be discussed in class. All assignments are due on the day listed in the Course Schedule. Late assignments will be penalized one letter grade for each day that they are late.

Student Presentations (75 pts) - Each student will be responsible for researching a timely conservation topic, organizing the results of this research into a concise presentation and then presenting the research to the class. Details and a list of topics will be distributed in class.

Attendance/Participation (25 pts) - Attendance and participation will not be graded directly but will be assessed through participation in class discussion, and feedback on presentations. Since our guest speakers will be taking time from their schedules to speak with us, it is important and expected that you attend every class. Should extenuating circumstances arise that require you miss class, talk with me and we can work something out.

Grades - Grades will be assigned according to the following scale:

A+ (500 - 483 pts), A (482 - 466 pts), A- (465 - 450 pts)
B+ (449 - 433 pts), B (432 - 416 pts), B- (415 - 400 pts)
C+ (399 -383 pts), C (382 - 366 pts), C- (365 - 350 pts)
D+ (349 - 333 pts), D (332 - 316 pts) D- (315 - 300 pts)
F (Below 300 pts)

When assessing your final grade for the course, I will use the scale exactly as it is printed here. There will be no exceptions.