SEEL Teaching

Borrett Teaching Statement (updated 1/3/2010)

Dr. Borrett's teaching schedule:

Fall 2013

Bio534 & Biol534 Fundamentals of Ecologial Modelling & Lab

Summer 2013

Biol366 Ecology Laboratory (SSII)

Past Courses

• Ecology. UNCW Bio366; Sp08, Sp09, Sp10

• Ecology Laboratory. UNCW Biol366; Sp08, Sp09, Su10, Sp11, Su11, Sp12, Su12

• Bringing Home the Biosphere. UNCW Bio495; Sp08.

• Fundamentals of Ecological Modelling. UNCW BIO534 & BIOL534; F07, F08, F10, F11, F12

• Ecological Thought: Past to Present. UNCW BIO602; F09, Sp11.

• Workshop: Introduction to Ecological Network Analysis (March 2011 at Northern Arizona University)

• R Tutorial (with Matt Lau). UNCW Su2011

UNCW R Tutorial Notes by Matt Lau @NAU
Additional R Resources: CRAN, Kickstarting R, Addicted to R
Example: Forest Data, Forest Analysis1

• Short Course: Systems Ecology and Ecological Network Analysis. UNCW Su 2011

• 2006. Stanford University. Fundamentals of Ecological Modeling. Undergraduate and graduate course. Co-instructor: K.R. Arrigo. Stanford, CA.

• 2003. Institute of Ecology. Ecological Thought: Past to Present. Required course for ecology graduate students. Co-instructors: B.C. Patten, S.J. Whipple. Athens, GA. syllabus

• 2003. Skidaway Institute of Oceanography. Ecosystem Complexity in the Marine Environment – Seeking an Answer to the Question: What is Biocomplexity? Three week short course for undergraduate and graduate students. Co-instructors: P.G. Verity, M.E. Frischer, B.C. Patten, S.J. Whipple. Skidaway, GA.

• Guest Lecturer and Teaching Assistant. 2002. Institute of Ecology. Theory of Systems Ecology. Graduate course. Professor: B.C. Patten. Athens, GA.

Spring 2010

Syllabus	Participation (updated 5-3-10) clicker registration site	Teaching Philosophy; Bloom's Taxonomy of Intellectual Behavior (1, 2)
Exams	Ecological Careers	State of Nation's Ecosystems
		Interesting Ecology Videos

Schedule

#	Date	Topic	Readings/Assignments Due
I. Introduction
1	6-Jan	Introductions: Nature of Ecology	Ch 1, Syllabus
II. Individuals and their Physical-Chemical Environment
2	11	Earth System and the Physical World; Milankovich Cycles	Ch 2
3	13	Niche, Conditions, and Resources	Begon et al. pp 30-31 and pp. 86-88.; Chan et al 2008 (supplimental)
	18-Jan	MLK Day (Parade on Castle Street, 9 am, more info)
4	20	Physiological Ecology of Plants	Ch 6
5	25	Physiological Ecology of Animals	Ch 7
6	27	Life History Pattern7	Ch 8
7	1-Feb	Review for Exam (study guide)	review notes, prepare questions
8	3	EXAM I (results, answer key)
III. Populations and Interactions
9	8	Population Properties	Ch 9
10	10	Population Growth	Ch 10, life table example
11	15	Population Regulation; Intraspecific Competition	Ch 11
12	17	Interspecific Competition (part 1) (part 2)	Ch 13
13	22	Predation
14	24	Parasitism, Mutualisms, Symbioses	Ch 15
15	1-March	Finish Mutualisms, Review	Population Equation Summary
16	3	EXAM II (mc answer key)
	8	Spring Break
	10	Spring Break
IV. Communities
17	15	Community Attributes, Structure, and Biodiversity	Ch 16
18	17	Factors Inﬂuencing Community Structure	Ch 17
19	22	Community Dynamics and Succession	Ch 18
V. Ecosystems
20	24	Energetics and Organization	Ch 20
21	29	Energetics and Organization	Ch 20
22	31	EXAM III (answer key)
23	5-Apr.	Decomposition and Nutrient Cycling	Ch 21
24	7	Biogeochemcial Cycling :: Carbon and Climate Change; Carbon Foot Print Calculators: 1, 2	Ch 22 (22.1-22.7); Beedlow et al. 2004
25	12	Biogeochemical Cycling :: Other Macro Nutrients	Ch 22 (22.8-22.13)
VI. Large Scale Ecology
26	14	Biomes	Ricklefs 2007, Ch 5
27	19	Large Scale Biodiversity and Species Invasions	Ch 26; Vitousek et al. 1996
28	21	Summary: 10+ Fundamental Principles of Ecology
29	26	Review	Review Notes
VII. Final Exam
30	3-May	EXAM IV, 3-6 pm
	8-May	Commencement

Interesting Ecology Videos

Conserving the Canopy http://www.ted.com/talks/nalini_nadkani_on_conserving_the_canopy.html

Venus Fly Trap:

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=4101741181268340357&ei=zi1eS8_OM8P-lQfw44WWDg&q=venus+fly+trap&hl=en#docid=6195769274854386079

Mate selection in Birds of Paradise (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6gAxbxxmYZ8)

BIOL 366 :: Ecology Laboratory :: Summer 2012

Syllabus & Lab Manual	Laboratory Report Requirements: Long Form; Short Form Grading Rubric; Demographic Cover Sheet Websites that convert Word to PDF http://www.doc2pdf.net/; http://www.pdfonline.com/convert-pdf/
Dr. Borrett's Teaching Philosophy	SkillPort Instructions; Browser Check

Schedule

Description of the laboratories and their assignment directions are in the class laboratory manual.

#	Day	Topic	Reading/Assignments
0	June 27	Microsoft Excel Proficiency Due July 2 (midnight)	SkillPort Assignment:(1) Getting Started with Excel 2007 and (2) Excel 2007 Formulas and Functions.
1	June 28	Scientific Method & Describing a Population Lecture Notes	Questions due in Class
2	July 3	Sampling Sedentary Organisms Excel Template :: Lecture Notes	Questions due in Class
3	July 5	Population Dispersion and Association Excel Analysis Template :: Lecture Notes	Early 2004, Ch 2 Fire in the Cathedral Lab Report (Short Form) due Lab 4
4	July 10	Forest Ecology I: Hypothesis development and sampling design map (google) :: Lecture Notes	Pechenik, Chapter 9 Hypotheses & Sampling Design due in class Draft Laboratory Report due Lab 6 Revised Laboratory Report due Lab 8
5	July 12	Forest Ecology II: Sampling Writing Advice
6	July 17	Forest Ecology III: Data Analysis Lecture Notes	Pechenik, Chapters 4 & 5 Examples: Forest Data, Forest Analysis1, data in Excel format DRAFT report due by midnight
7	July 19	Wetland Communities Lecture Notes	Graphs and Questions due in Class
8	July 24	Indirect Popluation Measures	@Bluethenthal Wildflower Preserve Questions due in Class
9	July 26	Laboratory Exam	Example Exam Questions

BIO 534 :: Advanced Ecology :: Fundamentals of Ecological Modeling :: Fall 2012

Syllabus

Schedule

#	Date	Topic	Reading	Homework (due date)
Introduction
0	Aug. 22	NO CLASS	none	none
1	Aug. 27	Introduction		A1: Mangel 2006 Math Warm Up (Due Aug. 29) :: (solution)
2	29	Models and Science (notes)	BGM Ch1	A2: Model ID Assignment (Due Sept 10) paper1, paper2, paper3, paper 4
	Sept.5	Labor Day
3	5	Art of Modelling (notes)	Haefner Ch2
4	10	System Conceptualization (notes)	Patten & Van Dyne (pers.com); FEM Ch4	A3: Conceptualization (due Sept 12)
Quantitative Models
5	12	Single State Variables Models: Bathtubs and Populations (notes)	Gotelli Ch1
6	17	Intraspecific Competition: Logistic Growth (notes)	Gotelli Ch2	A4: Problem Set (due Sept 26)
7	19	Generalized Control Functions (notes)	notes; Bolker Ch3
8	24	Structured Population Models (notes, Life Tables Example)	Gotelli Ch3
9	26	review & catch up
10	Oct. 1	Exam 1
11	3	Guest Lecture - (Dr. White)
	8	Fall Break
12	10	Populations in Space (notes)	Stevens Ch4
13	15	Interspecific Competition (notes)	Gotelli Ch4
14	17	Predation (notes)	Gotelli Ch 5
15	22	Mutualisms
16	25	Three State Varables: Chains & Webs (notes)
Model Evaluation
17	29	Environmental Forcing, Parameterization, and Calibration (notes)	DMB Ch9	A5: Problem Set (due before class on Nov. 5)
18	31	Discussion: Confronting Models with Data (research highlights)	Fussman et al. 2000: Shertzer et al. 2002
19	Nov. 5	Model Evaluation	Oreskes 1994; Schmolke et al 2010	Reading Proposals Due
20	7	Exam 2		Vote on Reading Proposals
Case Studies
21	12	Inductive Process Modelling
22	14	Network Models (notes)		paper critique 1
23	19	TBD		paper critique 2
	23	Thanksgiving
24	26	TBD		paper critique 3
25	28	TBD		paper critique 4
26	Dec. 3	TBD		paper critique 5
27	5	Summary & Conclusions


	7	Finals Week Starts

BIOL 534 :: Advanced Ecology Laboratory:: Fundamentals of Ecological Modeling

Fall 2011

Syllabus

Teaching Philosophy

Project Description,

Example Manuscript

Schedule

Date	Topic	Resources	Due Date	Solutions
Aug 22	NO CLASS MEETING: Please do the following: 1. Download and install R on your computer (CRAN). 2. Open R and play with it. 3. Start Lab 1: Introduction to R for Ecological Modeling from Dr. Ben Bolker's website. The following exercises will be due at the end of the next lab period: {2.1, 3.1, 5.1, 5.2, 5.3, 5.4, 8.2, 8.3, 8.4, 8.5, 8.6, 9.2} 4. Explore these resources R Reference Card M. Lau's notes Bolker's website	Emacs; Tinn-R; Information about other text editors for R is here; Plotting Details
29	... Lab 1 continued (notes)		exercises due at end of lab	(Solutions)
Sept. 5	Lab 2: Practical Programming	Exercises	end of lab	(Solutions)
12	Lab 3: Exponential Growth: Discrete vs. Continuous Time (lecture notes)	Shiflet & Shiflet 2006 Module 5: simulation techniques deSolve Vignette example plot with multiple lines	Sept. 19	(Solutions)
19	Lab 4: Density Dependence		Sept. 26	(Solution)
26	Lab 5: Ricker Model & Chaotic Dynamics	Otto&Day-chaos;	Oct. 10	(Solution)
Oct. 3	Work on Projects (No class meeting)
10	Lab 6: Resource-Consumer Models		Nov. 24 Project Topic Selection Due	(Solution)
17	...continued
24	Lab 7: Three State Variable Models: Chains and Webs	Beisner et al. 2003	Nov. 7	(Solution)
31	...continued
Nov 7	Lab 8: Connecting Models and Data	EggData, RossSeaData DMB9	no write up due
14	Conceptal Modeling in the Field
28	Work on Projects (No class meeting)
Dec 5			Project Reports Due
Dec 7	Project Presentations (Final Exam Period for Lecture and Lab: 1:30- 6 pm)		Project Presentations Due

Spring 2011 Schedule

Date	Topic	Readings	Exercises
13 Jan	No class
18	Introductions	Syllabus	sign up for topics
20	Scientific Origins	A. Kormondy (TOC; Introduction; Early Natural History) B. Kingsland 1991
25	Ecological Stoichiometry	A. Kormondy (Physical & Chemical Environment - Liebig, Blackman, Shelford) B. Reiners 1986	Exercise 1: Concept Mapping
27		C. Elser et al. 2000 D. Hillebrand, Helmut; Gamfeldt, Lars; Jonsson, Per R; Matthiesen, Bert. 2009. Consumer diversity indirectly changes prey nutrient content. Mar Ecol Prog Ser 380:33-41 (link)
Feb 1	Biosphere and Gaia	A. Lovelock and Margulis 1974 B. Charlson et al. 1987
3		C. Karnania & Annila. 2009. Gaia Again.	Ex. 1 Due
8	Density Dependence	A. Kormondy (Populations - Malthus, Verhulst, Birch, Nicholson, Hairston et al.) B. Caley et al. 1996 OR Murdoch et al. 1994	Exercise 2: Propositional Logic
10		C. Filin, I, Holt, RD, andl Barfield, M. 2008. The Relation of Density Regulation to Habitat Specialization, Evolution of a Species’ Range, and the Dynamics of Biological Invasions. A link to the paper is: http://www.jstor.org/stable/10.1086/589459
15	Host-Parasite Interactions	A. Kormondy (Populations: Burkholder, Gause, Connell, Wheeler) B. May 1983
17		C. TBD	Ex. 2 Due
22	Biodiversity and Ecosystem Fcn	A. Hutchinson 1959 B. Hooper et al. 2005
24		C. TBD
Mar 1	Community Assembly	A. Kormondy (Community - Clements, Braun-Blanquet and Furrer, Ramensky, Gleason) B. Leibold et al. 2004
3		C. TBD
8	Niche vs. Neutral Theory	A. Hutchinson 1957 B. Hubbell 2005	Exercise 3. 10 Fundamental Principles
10		C. Leibold and McPeek 2006 D. TBD
15	Spring Break
17	Spring Break
22	Ecosystem Energetics	A. Kormondy (ecosystems - Evans, Transeau, Juday, Lindeman, Clarke, Odum) B. Polis and Hurd 1996
24		C. Kraus et al. 2011
29	Topic A to be selected
31
April 5	Topic B to be selected
7
12	Topic C to be selected
14
19	Fundamental Processes pt 1
21	Easter Break
26	Fundamental Processes pt 2	Scheiner and Willig 2008
28	Summary and Discussion		Reflection Paper Due
14-May	Commencement