Conservation Biology Lecture page

Syllabus and lecture page for Conservation Biology

Notices:

I just completed submitting your grades. I'm not sure how long it takes before you can check them through the GMU grading system, but you can always send me an e-mail if you want to know how you did (everyone did quite well!).

Take care and have a great summer!
There are some hints on the final posted here (also in pdf).

A reminder that you need to turn your rough draft in with your final version of the paper.

IMPORTANT: You are responsible for the material presented during the student presentations

I would still prefer to get your final papers by April 29th, as originally scheduled. But if you really need some more time, you may hand it in anytime up to noon (no later!) on Tuesday, May 4th. Please leave it in my mailbox. This is right next to the main MMB office (top floor King).

Some more information on your paper can be found here or here (pdf).

Some hints on the mid term exam are available here or here (pdf).

Since I have not taught this class before, the following outline is subject to change. Headings followed by a date (e.g. 1/20) should become active links as lecture notes are made available. References to the text are in brackets. This page looks best when viewed with Mozilla or Firefox (both products of the Mozilla organization).

Introduction (1/20): (also available in pdf.)
- Course policies and procedures
- What is Conservation biology?
- A case study: American Chestnut

The problem of extinctions: (1/22, 1/27)

Pre-historic (pdf).
Historic (pdf).

Some threatened species (case studies):

Mostly as in chapter 4 of the text (pdf). (1/29 - 2/5)
More case studies (pdf). Only a couple of pages, but more to come.
Even more case studies (pdf).
The last two (pdf). (These two are not in the text).

Defining diversity

The species concept and related issues (2/10)

html
My apologies - my disk quota has been exceeded, so I have not been able to post the pdf version. I'll try to straighten it out soon.

The threats:

Habitat loss (pdf). (2/12)
Overexploitation (pdf). (2/17)
Exotic species and introductions (pdf ). (2/17)

Environmental factors (pdf). (2/19)
Overpopulation (pdf). (2/24 - 2/26)

Catch up and review (or forge ahead - see next set of notes) (3/2)

MIDTERM EXAM (3/4)

Spring break (3/9 - 3/11)

Populations and risk

Population dynamics (pdf). (3/16 - 3/18) Paper topic(s) due (3/18)
More population ecology (pdf).
Genetics and conservation biology (pdf ).
(Note: for a number of reasons, I highly recommend the pdf version this time).

Viability analysis (pdf). (3/23)
More on viability (pdf). (3/25)

Treating declining numbers: (3/30 - 4/6)

Determining cause (pdf).
Different treatments:

lecture notes part I (pdf).
lecture notes part II (pdf).
managing breeding sites, food & shelter
legislation
controlling predators, competitors, disease
zoos & translocation (pdf).

Reserves & Parks:

Designs in theory (pdf). (4/8)
Designs in practice (pdf). (4/13)

The human element:

Politics - why conserve? (pdf ). (4/15) Rough draft of paper(s) due.

Odds and ends (pdf). (4/20)

No class on 4/22

Paper presentations (4/27 - 4/29)
(Papers are due preferably on April 29th, but no later than May 4th at noon).

Final exam: Thursday, May 6, 1:30 - 2:45 p.m.

Comments? Questions? Please e-mail me at: alaemmer@gmu.edu