Syllabus

PNS0199 Community ecology – theory, experiments and data analyses, 5.0 Credits

Subjects

Education cycle

Grading scale

Language

Prior knowledge

Objectives

Summary

This course provides fundamental knowledge in community ecology, with a focus on community dynamics and mathematical modelling, experimental- and time series analyses methods to address key questions in community ecology. It also provides some insights in recent advances in community ecology and discussions of lines of research in community ecology.

Content

Expected learning outcomes

After completed course, the students are expected to

(i) be able to explain fundamental concepts in community ecology

(ii) be able to evaluate how their own research relates to community ecology theory

(iii) be able to explain, and discuss, how various ecological processes can influence the dynamics of animal communities

(iv) know of a range of experimental, statistical, mathematical and graphical methods to analyze such community responses

Course set-up and content

The course consists of lectures including invited lectures from leading researchers in different fields of community ecology, discussion seminar, modelling/data analysis exercises and a short individual project presented at a final mini-symposium. The first week of lectures and exercises are held on SLU campus Ultuna, while the final week is held in SLU Öregrund.

Topics covered during the course include

(i) Trophic interactions & community dynamic regulation

(ii) Non-trophic interactions & community dynamics

(iii) Communities & food-webs as interaction networks

(iv) Community structure and stability

(v) Interaction types, population regulation and alternative community states

(vi) Meta-community ecology

(vii) Community assembly

(viii) Diversity, food-web functioning & ecosystem services

(ix) Eco-evolutionary dynamics of communities

Course participants will learn analytical and graphical analyses of community stability, multivariate time series analyses to identify species dependencies and to explain community dynamics, and simple dynamic modelling of community responses to environmental change.

Through discussion seminars, the individual project and the final symposium, the students will also get the opportunity to practice oral presentation, evaluate and discuss how their own research relates to community ecology theory, as well as practice scientific debate.

Additional information

Responsible department

Department of Ecology