2011 Course Schedule with Links to Required Readings and Handouts


CLASS TIME: Class will meet from 8:30-10:25 on the first day of class and for all exams. Otherwise class will meet from 9:00-10:25 AM, unless noted on the schedule or announced in class.

Click on the topics below to access handouts and required readings for WIS4554 and WIS5555c for each lecture. Please read the material before the lecture, and print the handouts and bring them to lecture.

23-Aug Introduction To Course: What is Conservation Biology?

25-Aug What Is Biodiversity? Why Preserve Biodiversity?

30-Aug Vulnerability to Extinction and Rarity

  1-Sep Extinction Processes -- deterministic and stochastic

  6-Sep Spatially Structured Populations, Source-Sinks, and Spatial Regulation of Wildlife Harvest in Temperate and Tropical Systems

  8-Sep Metapopulations

13-Sep Population Viability Analysis/Minimum Viable Populations

15-Sep Habitat Fragmentation and Edge

20-Sep Discussion of Peace Corps, applying for graduate school, and applying for jobs. Guest: Amy Panikowski, Peace Corps recruiter at UF and former Peace Corps Volunteer in Malawi 2001-2002

22-Sep First exam (includes through Population Viability Analysis/Minimum Viable Populations)

27-Sep Review first exam.

29-Sep Finish Habitat Fragmentation and Edge

  4-Oct Conservation and Sustainable Use of Crocodiles -- Guest speaker: Perran Ross, UF Department of Wildlife Ecology and Conservation and Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission

  6-Oct Ecosystem and Adaptive Management

11-Oct Diversity at the Community (alpha, beta, gamma diversity) and Ecosystem Levels and Indicator Species

13-Oct Compositional, Structural, and Functional Diversity and Focal Species

18-Oct Conservation of Wading Birds in a Southeastern Mosaic -- Guest Speaker: Peter Fredrick, UF Department of Wildlife Ecology and Conservation

20-Oct Conservation of the Florida panther and an overview of disease issues in conservation biology -- Guest Speaker: Mark Cunningham, Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission

25-Oct Yasuni National Park in Ecuador - Oil, Indigenous People, and Wildlife - Guest Speaker: Santiago Espinosa

27-Oct Second Exam

  1-Nov Keystone Species, Foundation Species, and Ecologically Effective Population Densities

  3-Nov Invasive species

  8-Nov Review 2nd exam.

10-Nov Cons. Planning pt. 1 - Global trends in protected area, types of protected areas, limits to conservation with protected areas.

15-Nov Cons. Planning pt. 2 - reserve selection, GAP, paper parks (We finished limits to protected areas in this class.)

17-Nov Cons. Planning pt. 3 - MUM, buffers, corridors (We will discuss conservation on private land and selection of conservation areas in this class.)

22-Nov Cons. Planning pt. 4 - conservation on private lands (This class date will be open discussion and review. I will not lecture.)

29-Nov We will talk about MUMs, Buffers and Corridors.

1-Dec We will discuss design of individual reserves (SLOSS, etc.).

Note: The lecture outlines and other study material on the web for Cons. Planning 1-4 cover everything in the updated schedule. We are taking more class periods to finish these topics. Lots of good discussion!

  6-Dec 3rd Exam