BIOL756 COMMUNITY ECOLOGY
| Course Code: | 2380756 |
| METU Credit (Theoretical-Laboratory hours/week): | 3 (3.00 - 0.00) |
| ECTS Credit: | 8.0 |
| Department: | Biology |
| Language of Instruction: | English |
| Level of Study: | Graduate |
| Course Coordinator: | Prof.Dr. MERYEM BEKLİOĞLU |
| Offered Semester: | Spring Semesters. |
Course Objectives
Community ecology is an interdisciplinary field that bridges concepts and investigates the underlying mechanisms in biodiversity science, biogeography, evolution and conservation. This course provides an introduction to the study of pattern and process in ecological communities with an emphasis on theoretical, experimental and quantitative approaches. Topics include: ecological and evolutionary processes that create, maintain or modify patterns of biodiversity; biodiversity and ecosystem function; island biogeography; metacommunity dynamics; dispersal; ecological drift; species interactions (competition, predation, food webs) and species coexistence; and effects of human-mediated environmental change (climate change, habitat alteration, invasive species) on biodiversity. The class format includes lectures, discussions, and hands-on simulations also using the R language for statistical computing and graphics.
Course Content
Theoretical and applied issues of community ecology, biodiversity, biogeography, evolution and conservation, ecological processes, metacommunity dynamics; niche and neutral theory; species interactions (competition, predation, food webs) and species coexistence; and effects of human-mediated environmental change.
Course Learning Outcomes
Biodiversity crises is the one of the major global problem yet our lives depend on the ecosystem services that biodiversity is the foundation of it. Students who will take this course will learn how biodiversity vary across the globa and what are the underlyıng theories behind that explain diversity. Different components of diversity will also be thoroughly discussed that the studenst will learn especially trait diversity approach in ecology to relate it wiyh global change and ecosystem servises.