Models in Ecology
(1) General
| School: | Of the Environment | ||
| Academic Unit: | Department of Marine Sciences | ||
| Level of studies: | Undergraduate | ||
| Course Code: | 191ΘΔ38Ε | Semester: | H |
| Course Title: | Models in Ecology | ||
| Independent Teaching Activities | Weekly Teaching Hours | Credits | |
| Total credits | 5 | ||
| Course Type: | Skills development | ||
| Prerequisite Courses: | - | ||
| Language of Instruction and Examinations: | Greek | ||
| Is the course offered to Erasmus students: | No | ||
| Course Website (Url): | https://www.mar.aegean.gr/?lang=en&pg=3.1.1&lesson=1093 | ||
(2) Learning Outcomes
Learning Outcomes
- At the end of this course, students will have gained a firm introduction to key concepts in applied ecosystem modeling and will have learned to use those concepts in oral discussions, critical analysis of models, and in presentations.
- Students will learn first-hand how ecosystem models are composed of equations and submodels that are exchanged and modified to serve different purposes.
- Students will see first-hand how choices and techniques of model construction translate into model strengths and weaknesses for applied environmental problems and issues. Students will learn to think broadly and critically about the range of choices, approaches, and designs that compose a modeling activity such as problem identification, conceptual boundary, generality vs. specificity, model assessment and model choice, and the development of baseline and alternative scenarios.
- Students who complete this course will understand how ecosystem models incorporate process-level understanding from ecology but are currently being expanded and applied to a range of environmental problems across disciplines to address large-scale environmental problems and provide support for environmental decision-making.
General Competences
- Search for, analysis and synthesis of data and information, with the use of the necessary technology
- Decision-making
- Working independently
- Team work
- Working in an international environment
- Working in an interdisciplinary environment
- Production of new research ideas
- Respect for the natural environment
- Production of free, creative and inductive thinking
(3) Syllabus
- Introduction to population ecology,
- One – species population dynamics, Density – dependent population growth – Exponential growth,
- Density independent population growth – Logistic growth, Life tables,
- Species interactions, Competition, Predation, Lotka – Volterra models.
- Resource competition and community structure, Competition for one resource, Competition for two resources, Tilman’s model.
- Practicals with Excel, R, Populus software.
(4) Teaching and Learning Methods - Evaluation
| Delivery: | ||||||||||||||||||||||
| Use of Information and Communication Technology: | Use of statistical language (R) in teaching and in Labs. Use of platform open eclass, a complete Course Management System that supports Asynchronous eLearning Services. Instructor notes, homework. | |||||||||||||||||||||
| Teaching Methods: |
| |||||||||||||||||||||
| Student Performance Evaluation: | Language of evaluation: Greek. Method of evaluation: Final project: problem solving through statistical software (20%) End of semester exam: written problem solving (80%) |
(5) Attached Bibliography
- Στάμου ΓΠ. 2009. Οικολογία: Εισαγωγή στην Οικολογία των Πληθυσμών. Ζήτη
- Σαϊτάνης Κ, Καρανδεινός Μ. 2010. ΠΛΗΘΥΣΜΙΑΚΗ ΟΙΚΟΛΟΓΙΑ - ΔΥΝΑΜΙΚΗ ΠΛΗΘΥΣΜΩΝ. Έμβρυο
- Σγαρδέλλης Σ. 2016. Μαθηματικά μοντέλα στη Βιολογία. University Studio Press