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After taking this course, students should be able to enter a forest ecosystem and analyze its present state, make inferences about its past, and speculate about its future.
The curriculum for this class has been developed and refined over a period of two decades by Professor Emeritus Linda Brubaker. The class goal is to provide students with the skills to interpret, apply and contribute to the body of ecological knowledge. Although the lectures and readings change from year to year based on current developments, the class develops four areas of expertise:
Information gathering: critical review of ecological literature, critical assessment of oral presentations and lectures, field observations of ecological patterns and systematic measurement of ecological phenomena
Synthesis: gather information from multiple, different sources into conceptual frameworks, develop ideas, insights, predictions or hypotheses about ecological patterns and processes
Assessment: quantitative analysis of ecological data (the two quantitative assignments use techniques almost universally applicable in analyzing vegetation)
Communication: clearly and concisely convey your insights, predictions, results and interpretations to the widest possible scientific audience, use graphical and tabular displays of data to enhance communication of data and concepts
The lectures, readings, discussion sections, field trips, writing assignments and quantitative assignments reinforce each other, and the class pools data for analyses.
Students help themselves and their colleagues through the sharing of ideas, experience and insights, as well as offering and receiving constructive, critical review. The instructors do tailor lectures to include the professional interests of class members: it is our goal to help you realize your individual educational objectives.
Since the course uses the current scientific literature as reading materials, students will become familiar with many of the scientists now at the forefront of ecology. Previous classes have also found that their CFR501 classmates become valued colleagues and friends.
This class serves three main constituencies: scientists; managers and policy advisors; and science educators. Forest Community Ecology provides a foundation in ecological theory as well as an introduction to current trends and recent advances in the field. The course is designed to help develop your own research within the context of the field, teach or advise at any level, and to prepare you to assimilate and contribute advances in ecology during your career.
Performance is evaluated with three essay responses to discussion questions, two data analyses (and reports), and a take home final exam consisting of three short essays. Assignments are evaluated at the standard expected of submission to professional journals. |
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Course Objectives |
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Sequoia National Park, 2007 |
