Community Ecology

BDC331 Pt1

Mark J Gibbons, Room 4.102, BCB Department, UWC

Tel: 021 959 2475. Email: mgibbons@uwc.ac.za

Image acknowledgements – http://www.google.com

Course Aims and Structure

Objectives:

•To train students in some of the basic theories of community ecology

•To provide students with the necessary skills to enable them to undertake surveys and identify biological communities

Required Background:

Any course on community ecology requires a certain level of background theory and skills - if it is to be successful. For this course, they include a working knowledge of:

Measures of central tendency and dispersionMSExcel

It is also assumed that students are able to build simple single-species models of population growth and that they have a knowledge of intra-specific competition.

As many of you may have forgotten this background, it will be necessary to spend a short period of time completing this work.

Approach:

The course is a balance between theory, laboratory and

field: any person that goes on to work (e.g.) in nature

conservation needs to know why data on communities need to

be collected, they need to know how to collect the data and then

how to analyse the data. They may also need to make informed

decisions (often of a management nature) based on the data. As

a consequence, any course on community ecology needs to

include elements of theory, fieldwork and laboratory simulation,

and here the theory and laboratory simulation go very much

hand in hand.

NB: It is not possible to cover everything in the theory AND

develop your field, analytical and report-writing skills. As a

consequence, some areas of theory are ignored entirely or are

glossed over very superficially.

ALL LECTURES AND SUPPLEMENTARY MATERIAL WILL BE PROVIDED ON THE INTERNET AFTER THEY HAVE

BEEN PRESENTED

Defining a community

Summarizing characteristics

Examining links

Introduction: Definitions

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Community changesin space and time:

SuccessionDisturbance

Effect of Competition and Predation in structuring communities

Contents

[Field &] Analytical

Theory & Modeling

Theory, Modelling [and Field]

Timetable

There will be three lectures per week and two practical

classes. ALL classes will take place in the seminar room on

the 5th floor of the Life Sciences Building

IT IS EXPECTED THAT YOU WILL ATTEND ALL CLASSES

ON TIME

Day Week Date Period Official Type Duration Topic Assignment DeadlinesMon 1 02-Feb-15 1 L 1 Introduction, Aims, Definitions ETCTues 1 03-Feb-15 PM P 3 MSExcel & Population Dynamics: Assess. Report dataThurs 1 05-Feb-15 2 L 1 Sampling 1Thurs 1 05-Feb-15 3-4 P 2 Sampling 2

Fri 1 06-Feb-15 1 L 1 Community Properties; Area problemsMon 2 09-Feb-15 1 L 1 Community Properties; diversity indicesTues 2 10-Feb-15 PM P 3 How to ID Communities: Conceptual overviewThurs 2 12-Feb-15 2 L 1 How to ID Communities: similarity matrices by handThurs 2 12-Feb-15 3-4 P 2 How to ID Communities: drawing dendrograms by hand: PRIMER

Fri 2 13-Feb-15 1 L 1 CorrelationsMon 3 16-Feb-15 1 L 1 Competition - Mechanisms; simple 2 spp Models Poster 1 - Communities Tues 3 17-Feb-15 PM P 3 FIELD WORK - CFNRThurs 3 19-Feb-15 2 L 1 FIELD WORK - CFNRThurs 3 19-Feb-15 3-4 P 2 FIELD WORK - CFNR

Fri 3 20-Feb-15 1 L 1 Competition - Simple 2 spp Models: SUMMARYMon 4 23-Feb-15 1 L 1 Competition - Niche width: Searsia PracticalTues 4 24-Feb-15 PM P 3 Competition - Simple 2 spp ModelsThurs 4 26-Feb-15 2 L 1 Competition - Simple 2 spp ModelsThurs 4 26-Feb-15 3-4 P 2 Competition - Simple 2 spp Models: SUMMARY

Fri 4 27-Feb-15 1 L 1 Predation - Types & EffectsMon 5 02-Mar-15 1 L 1Tues 5 03-Mar-15 PM P 3Thurs 5 05-Mar-15 2 L 1Thurs 5 05-Mar-15 3-4 P 2

Fri 5 06-Mar-15 1 L 1Mon 6 09-Mar-15 1 L 1 Predation Models: Simple 2 spp models - exponential Searsia Practical Tues 6 10-Mar-15 PM P 3 Predation Models: Simple 2 spp models - logisticThurs 6 12-Mar-15 2 L 1 Predation Models: Simple 2 spp models - exponential with refugesThurs 6 12-Mar-15 3-4 P 2 Predation Models: Simple 2 spp models - SUMMARY

Fri 6 13-Mar-15 1 L 1 Succession - Markov ChainMon 7 16-Mar-15 1 L 1 Succession - biological mechanisms I: Markov Chains Poster 2 - LiteratureTues 7 17-Mar-15 PM P 3 Succession - biological mechanisms II, Climax conceptThurs 7 19-Mar-15 2 L 1Thurs 7 19-Mar-15 3-4 P 2

Fri 7 20-Mar-15 1 L 1 DisturbanceMon 8 23-Mar-15 1 L 1 Disturbance in Markov Chain Models ITues 8 24-Mar-15 PM P 3 Disturbance in Markov Chain Models IIThurs 8 26-Mar-15 2 L 1 Competition and Communities - IThurs 8 26-Mar-15 3-4 P 2 Null Models

Fri 8 27-Mar-15 1 L 1 Null Models CFNR Community REPORT

TEST

Mr A Engelbrecht

Assessments and Deadlines

Evaluation will take the form of continuous assessment. This continuous assessment is broken up as follows:

Class test (33%) + Practical work (67%) = Course Mark

Course Mark (60%) + Exam (40%) = Final Mark

Class Test

The class test will be held on THURSDAY 19 March 2015

during the scheduled practical class. Students will be tested on

ALL material covered prior to that date.

Practical Work

In this course, the practical component will comprise four

evaluations. These are listed below:

PLEASE BE ADVISED THAT FACULTY RULES REGARDING

PLAGIARISM AND THE SUBMISSION OF LATE

ASSIGNMENTS WILL BE UPHELD

You will be expected to use Turnitin

Poster 1: Changes in Communities – 25% to Prac Mark

Final Deadline – Monday 16 February 2015

Poster 2: Literature – 25% to Prac MarkFinal Deadline – Monday 16 March 2015

Searsia Practical Report – 10% to Prac Mark

Final Deadline – Monday 9 March 2015

CFNR Community Report - 40% towards Practical Mark

Final Deadline – Friday 27 March 2015

Create a poster (size A0) in MS PowerPoint to illustrate

changes in the biological communities, and the factors that

contribute to these changes, associated with the following

environmental gradients

POSTER 1IN THREES

1. From sea-level to 8 000 m altitude

2. From canopy to forest floor in a tropical rainforest

3. From epipelagic to deep-sea bathypelagic

4. From kelp beds to the hadal - benthos

5. From the land to the sea – rocky intertidal

6. From freshwater to seawater – estuaries

7. From leaf-litter to bedrock – a soil profile

8. From freshly dead to remineralisation

9. From rocky to muddy shores – sediment size

The audience is

undergraduate

students –

Teaching Tool

The poster MUST be professional in appearance

The poster will be assessed using a rubric and ALL TEXT must be submitted to Turnitin and the

report attached

Create a poster (size A0) in MS PowerPoint to illustrate one

of the following topics:

POSTER 2

1. Mutualism2. Commensalism3. Defensive responses of plants to grazing4. Optimal foraging and diet width5. Type I, II and III functional responses6. Primary succession on sand dunes7. Secondary succession in forest gaps8. Concept of successional climax9. Competition-colonisation tradeoffs in succession10.Resource-ratio hypothesis in succession11.Vital attributes in succession12.The role of animals in succession13.The effect of fire on plant communities14.The effect of keystone predators in marine

ecosystems15.The effect of keystone predators in terrestrial

ecosystems16.Community changes linked to seasonality

IN [different] THREES

The audience is undergraduate students – Teaching Tool

The poster should be based on a published, peer-reviewed

scientific paper that CLEARLY illustrates the concept

behind the topic OR that CLEARLY shows how the

concept can influence biological community structure.

NB in some cases, more than one source will be needed.

1 000 word maximum

The poster MUST be professional in appearance

The poster will be assessed using a rubric and ALL TEXT must be submitted to Turnitin and the

report attached

POSTER 2

TITLE

CONCEPT NOTE & DEFINITION

Article Details

METHODS

RESULTS & DISCUSSION

Legend

*Legend

Legend

LegendAcknowledgements

Resource partitioning amongst Searsia species

Collect data from the CFNR: enter and consolidate data;

analyse data; prepare figures and/or tables that illustrate

findings; write text that summarises results.

250 words maximum, including legends to figures and/or

tables.

CFNR REPORT

To undertake a vegetation survey along a line transect across the CFNR using appropriate field techniques, and to prepare a fully referenced report entitled “ Preliminary descriptions of the plant communities of the CFNR” for consideration of publication in a peer-reviewed scientific journal of your choice.

Your report mustbe no more than 1500 words max: 2 line spacing, Times Roman, pages numbered etc etc Keep figures to a minimum - only essential ones: NO raw data. NO use of personal. Be efficient with words in the methods but be clear how you have cleaned up the data and if you have transformed data. Your reports MUST include:

•A dendrogram from which communities are identified.

•A concise description of each of the identified communities

•An estimate of each community’s diversity (with 95% CI)

Pass or Fail?

A student is deemed to have passed the course if her/his Final mark (i.e. Coursework + Exam) is ≥50% AND the Exam mark is ≥40% AND the Practical mark is ≥50%

Should a student obtain a Final mark of ≥50% AND have a Practical mark of ≥50% BUT have an Exam mark <40%, then that student will get an opportunity to write a Supplementary Exam*

Should a student obtain a Final mark of 45-49%, AND the Practical mark is ≥50%, then that student will have an opportunity to write a Supplementary Exam*

Should a student obtain a Coursework mark (i.e. Class tests + Practical) of ≥50% AND have a Practical mark of ≥50% AND have an Exam mark of ≥30% then that student will get an opportunity to write a Supplementary Exam*

A student who does not meet the above grades fails and is not eligible to sit the Supplementary Exam.

A student who fails to get a mark of 50% in the Practical work automatically fails, regardless of the Coursework or Exam mark – such a student not being eligible to sit the final exam.

Similarly, a student that fails to obtain a course-work mark of less than 40% is not eligible to sit the final exam.

* - Supplementary exams will be held at the end of the examination period. This exam will test the student on ALL the work undertaken in the module.

Readings

Although there are no prescribed books for this course, the following texts are recommended (especially those in bold-typeface).

•Begon, M., Harper, J.L. and Townsend, C.R. (1990). Ecology: Individuals, Populations and Communities. Blackwell Scientific Publications, 945pp.

•Begon, M. and Mortimer, M. (1986). Population Ecology: A Unified Study of Animals and Plants. Blackwell Scientific Publications, 220pp.

•Krebs, C.J. (1999). Ecological Methodology. Benjamin Cummings, 620pp.

•Morin. P.J. (1999). Community Ecology. Blackwell Science, 424pp

•Zar, J.H. (1984) Biostatistical Analysis. Prentice-Hall