606-204 Ecology: Communities and Ecosystems

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This subject introduces ecology at the scale of communities, ecosystems and landscapes. Students completing this course will become familiar with different ways of asking ecological questions at these scales:

• a mechanistic approach to species interactions;
• a comparative approach to understanding communities through patterns in time and space and;
• a dynamic landscape approach to understanding community change.

Main topics covered include:

• measurement of ecological systems at the level of food web, community, ecosystem and landscape;
• trophic interactions and resource partitioning;
• disturbance and ecological succession;
• nutrient cycling and energetics;
• palaeoecology; and
• management of human activities.

Students will learn about how to conduct experiments, field surveys and simulation modelling, as well as interpret and discuss literature. Applications to management are highlighted throughout.