Populations, Communities and Landscapes (Fall semester)

Details

Objectives :

A reminder of the general ecology objectives in the main course curriculum:
- To be able to describe and analyze the functioning of a natural system under human influence;
- To appreciate the value of fundamental ecology for understanding the effects of farming practices and their impacts on the environment.

Be able:
- To define two levels of organization in ecology: the population and the community;
- To link the life history of a plant or animal species to a population dynamics model;
- To appreciate the relevance of modelling for the study of natural phenomena;
- To cite the main applications of population dynamics;
- To analyze the flow of matter and energy between different trophic levels;
- To understand the importance of interactions between species in ecosystems, to better manage them;
- To cite some concepts from landscape ecology used to study the influence of landscape structure on plant and animal populations and communities.

Contents :

Population ecology
- Population ecology, definitions, examples of real population fluctuations, methods for studying populations;
- Models of population dynamics – exponential and logistic growth and age structured models;
- Competition and predation – Lotka and Volterra models
- Metapopulation models
Community ecology
- Diversity of interactions between species – positive interactions (amensalism, commensalism, mutualism) – symbioses
- Foodwebs
- Plant succession (communities, successions and series)
- Effects of constraints and disturbance, species assemblages, diversity and productivity
Landscape Ecology
- Landscapes, how man modifies them and an introduction to landscape ecology
- Populations and communities in landscapes and introduction to conservation biology

Prerequisites :

Prerequisites:
Module IL2-EVM “Living organisms in their natural environment” with its prerequisites.
Mathematics module in IL2.

Teaching methods :

Lectures, seminars and practicals and an assignment.
1 seminars (TD), calculation and manipulation of mathematical models
1 seminars (TD) on case of a real population dynamics study
1 practical (TP) on “Predation” to study the factors influencing the predator efficiency
1 seminar (TD) Foodwebs

Assignment: Literature search and synthesis on the topic of "Interactions between species which can contribute to the agriculture of the future"
Note: This exercise provides material which is used again within the communication module IL3 S5

Assessment :

1 individual written exam of 2 hrs worth 1.8 ECTS
Literature search and synthesis group work (3 students) worth 1.2 ECTS

Bibliography :