Ruth Hufbauer
Description:Natural selection is a fundamental but often misunderstood concept in ecology and evolutionary biology. We will start by reading from the publications that laid the foundation for current approaches to studying natural selection (e.g. components of Endler�¢??s Natural Selection in the Wild, and Lande and Arnold�¢??s perspectives on measuring selection on correlated characters). Then we will turn to more recent papers on selection, from field measurements, including demographic analyses, to genomic evidence of selection.
Credits: 1
Restrictions:
First Meeting: 8/20/2013
Meeting Times: TBA, First meeting Tuesday Aug. 20th at 2:00.
Classroom: TBA
CRN: 60164
Section Number: 1
Cross Listed:
Enrollment Limit: 15
Background: Some background in evolutionary biology is necessary to get the most and contribute fully to this seminar.
Course Text: individual readings
Instructor Contact Info:
Ruth Hufbauer hufbauer@lamar.colostate.edu 970-491-6945
Cameron Aldridge, Sunil Kumar, Barry Noon
Description:This is a broad-ranging seminar course designed to expose students to the variety of quantitative and statistical techniques available to assess species-habitat relationships. Niche models are known by a variety of names including species distribution models, habitat relationship models, bioclimatic envelopes, and others. The concepts and application of these models are not new, although there are many new statistical algorithms to estimate niche relationships. They all rely on the concept of the niche�?�¢??the set of environmental conditions in which a species can survive and persist. They are particularly topical today because of concerns over the effects of climate change, energy development, and invasive species on the distribution and abundance of native species. Our goal is to expose students to a suite of different analytical approaches so as to give them a new tool set for future design of experiments and analyses of data. The course structure is one 50 minute period. The first portion of the class will consist of a brief introduction to a topic (~15 minutes). This is intended to cover some of the theoretical and conceptual foundations of a given statistical algorithm used for niche modeling, and provide an overview for a key paper we will read on the specific topic. The remainder of the class will be a discussion on the topic and the key paper(s), lead by that week�?�¢??s presenters (faulty or students). Students will lead one class presentation and discussion. Topics discussed in this course could include resource selection functions (RSFs), resource utilization functions (RUFs), occupancy models, Habitat Suitability Index (HSI) models, count-based models (Poisson and negative binomial regression), survival models, Ecological Niche Factor Analyses (ENFA), classification and regression tree (CART) models, Movement Models, Bayesian Belief Networks, Maximum Entropy Models, Model Assessment and Evaluation, and more.
Credits: 1
Restrictions: Graduate students or permission of the instructor.
First Meeting: 8/28/2013
Meeting Times: Proposed: 10:00 - 11:00 am; to be discussed at 1st meeting.
Classroom: NESB B215
CRN: 60165
Section Number: 2
Cross Listed:
Enrollment Limit: 30
Background: None: student background in ecology will vary, but see the course description for the topics the course will focus on.
Course Text: None: scientific articles will be identified and discussed.
Instructor Contact Info:
Cameron Aldridge cameron.aldridge@colostate.edu 970-226-9433
Sunil Kumar sunil.kumar@colostate.edu 970-491-7056
Barry Noon brnoon@cnr.colostate.edu 970-491-7905
W. Chris Funk
Description:Recent advances in next-generation sequencing and bioinformatics are revolutionizing population and conservation genetics. Population genomics is the study of numerous loci to understand the roles of evolutionary processes (genetic drift, gene flow, selection, and mutation) that shape variation across genomes and populations. Conservation genomics is the application of genomics to address questions important in conservation and management. This course will focus on the growing literature in these related fields. The course format will be student-led discussion of the literature, with the goal of understanding the promise, limitations, and most exciting opportunities for using genomic approaches to address basic evolutionary and ecological questions as well as applied questions in conservation and management.
Credits: 1
Restrictions: Prerequisite: BZ 525 Molecular Ecology or BZ 578 Genetics of Natural Populations (or concurrent registration) or permission of instructor.
First Meeting: 8/29/2013
Meeting Times: Thurs 12-1PM
Classroom: TBA
CRN: 60170
Section Number: 3
Cross Listed: NA
Enrollment Limit: 15
Background: Must have an advanced background in population genetics
Course Text: NA
Instructor Contact Info:
W. Chris Funk Chris.Funk@colostate.edu 970-491-3289
Previous ECOL 592 course descriptions available on the Past 592 page.
