300362 SE Seminar on population and community ecology (2009W)

This seminar series addresses the basic principles of population and community ecology, especially the roles of abiotic and biotic factors in governing the spatio-temporal dynamics of animal populations and communities. Emphasis will be put on effects of habitat isolation and fragmentation (e.g. metapopulation concepts), and of human intervention (e.g. habitat conversion, poaching, harvesting) on natural populations and assemblages. Furthermore, the change of communities along environmental gradients (e.g. elevation, climate, disturbance) and the mechanisms that regulate the composition of species assemblages (e.g. resource partitioning among competitors, animal-plant interactions, predation, mutualism, biogeographic principles) will be discussed. Participants are expected to present and discuss key papers, and to critically summarize their results in essays.