This subject provides an overview of ecology and the genetics of populations with a focus on biodiversity and interactions. Topics include population ecology, types of competition, dynamics of simple competition systems, competition models and real systems, types of predation, dynamics of simple predator-prey systems, predator-prey models and real systems, decomposers, parasitism and mutualism, the maintenance and distribution of genetic variation, the measurement of inbreeding, and the impact of natural selection. Other topics include community ecology, abiotic and biotic determinants of community structure, food web stability and complexity, applied ecology principles and dynamics of biological control, application of island biogeography and dynamics of agricultural and managed forest ecosystems. Students will collect and present a taxonomic project including a group of organisms of their choice.

Subject rules