Geography 323: Biogeography
Spring, 2012
Lecture: Tue & Thu 8:30-9:50 302 Gerlinger
Weekly lab sections: Tue 12:00 and 1:00, Thur 12:00 and 1:00. Many will be held outdoors on campus.
Instructor:
Dan Gavin (dgavin@uoregon.edu)
Office: 110 Condon Hall; Phone: 346-5787
GTF: Erin Herring (eherring@uoregon.edu)
Course Overview: The spatial patterns of species distributions are widely recognized, but few appreciate the complex causes of these patterns. Biogeography is the study of the spatial patterns of biological diversity, and its causes, both in the present and in the past. Biogeographers synthesize information from a very broad range of fields, including ecology, evolution, paleontology, and climatology. This course will provide the ecological and historical foundations for understanding the distribution and abundance of species, and the changes in distribution and abundance over time. We will also explore the relevance of biogeography during a time of increasing human impact and climate change.
Prerequisite: GEOG 141 or GEOL 103 or GEOL 203 or BI 370.
The
course is divided into two sections,
each followed by an exam. First, we study basic ecological
concepts and two biogeographic processes: dispersal
and extinction, and how they all relate to patterns of species over
space. Second, we briefly study speciation and study how biodiversity changes
over
time: over the relatively recent ice ages and longer evolutionary time
scales. We delve further into historical biogeography
and study why continents and islands have unique assemblages of
species, and the effects of mega-extinctions and biotic interchanges
between continents.
Goals of the course:
- To develop an appreciation for the historical and ecological factors that influence the pattern of life on earth.
- To survey the scientific revolutions of evolution, plate tectonics, and molecular ecology that shaped the path to modern biogeography.
- Using the lab assignments, to understand the scientific method and how to test hypotheses using inferential statistics.
- To understand the processes that affect how biotas respond to a changing climate, and the challenges we face today and in years to come.
Outline of topics to be covered (roughly one topic per week):
- Introduction to the science; History of biogeography
- Distributions of single species; distributions of communities of species
- Fundamental biogeographic procesess: dispersal, speciation, extinction
- Island biogeography and conservation biogeography
- Reconstructing biogeographic histories
- Determinants of continental-scale biogeographic patterns
- Biotic interchanges of the past
- Histories of biota during recent glaciations
- Biogeography of climate change
Course grading:
- Two exams, each covering about 1/2 of the course and each worth 30% of your total grade.
- Five lab reports, labs 1,2,4 and 5 are worth 9%, lab 3 is worth 4%, for a total of 40% of your total grade. Lab 3 will be graded as credit/no credit: ALL questions must be answered to get credit!
A detailed syllabus is found here:
Department
of Geography, University of Oregon
Modified Feb 28th, 2012
