Ecosystems Ecology - BISC 619 Dr. Clifford A. Ochs
Spring 2014 office: 332 Shoemaker Hall
TTh 9:30-10:45, Shoemaker 219 phone: 915-7562
email:
Office hrs: W, Th 3:00-5:00
“Rocket scientists have it easy!”
Hilborn, R. and D. Ludwig. 1993. The limits of applied ecological research.
Ecol. Applications 3: 550-552.
Course Objectives: Examination of the structure, functional properties, and development of ecosystems, tools used to study ecosystems, and the application of theory to ecosystem management. We will consider studies of terrestrial, marine, and freshwater ecosystems. As is the field of ecosystem ecology, our approach in the course will be interdisciplinary, and we will examine the interplays and feedbacks between key physical, chemical, geological and ecological parameters and processes.
Class Organization: Classes will consist of weekly lectures, discussion, and at least one field trip. Classic and recent papers that represent the field of ecosystem ecology will be examined. Your mission is to participate and interact fully in presentation/discussions, and to wring as much information as possible out of the course. Passive behavior is discouraged!
Readings:
1. Text: Weathers, K.C., D.L. Strayer, and G.E. Likens. 2013. Fundamentals of Ecosystem Science. Academic Press.
2. Research and review papers – provided as pdfs, discussed in class
Grading
Attendance and Participation 30%
Paper reviews – e-journal 20%
Take-Home Exam 1 (pre-break) 25%
Take-Home Exam 2 (Final) 25%
Topics Schedule and Required Readings
Week - Topic WSL chapter
1 Introduction – The Ecosystem Concept 1
Anker, P. 2002. The context of ecosystem theory. Ecosystems 5:611-613
2 TU: Primary Production – Terrestrial Systems 2
Hamilton J.G., DeLucia E.H., George K., Naidu S.L., Finzi A.C. and Schlesinger W.H. 2002. Forest carbon balance under elevated CO2. Oecologia 131: 250-260.
Reich, P. B. and S. E. Hobbie. 2013. Decade-long soil nitrogen constraint on the CO2 fertilization of plant biomass. Nature Climate Change 3:278-282.
TH: Primary Production – Aquatic Systems
Boyd, P. W., T. Jickells, C. S. Law, S. Blain, E. A. Boyle, K. O. Buesseler, K. H. Coale, J. J. Cullen, H. J. W. de Baar, M. Follows, M. Harvey, C. Lancelot, M. Levasseur, N. P. J. Owens, R. Pollard, R. B. Rivkin, J. Sarmiento, V. Schoemann, V. Smetacek, S. Takeda, A. Tsuda, S. Turner, and A. J. Watson. 2007. Mesoscale Iron Enrichment Experiments 1993-2005: Synthesis and Future Directions. Science 315:612-617.
Kintisch, E. 2007. Should Oceanographers Pump Iron? Science 318:1368-1370.
3 Secondary Production 3
Post, D.M., M.L. Pace, N.G. Hairston, Jr. 2000. Ecosystem size determines food-chain length in lakes. Nature 405: 1047-1049.
Cebrian, J. 2004. Role of first-order consumers in ecosystem carbon flow. Ecology Letters 7: 232-240.
Benke, A.C. and A.D. Huryn. 2010. Benthic invertebrate production – facilitating answers to ecological riddles in freshwater ecosystems Journal of the North American Benthological Society 29: 264-285.
4 Decomposition of Organic Matter 4
Findlay, S.E.G. and D. L. Strayer. 2012. Appendix: A primer on biologically mediated redox reactions in ecosystems. In Weathers, D.L. Strayer, and G.E. Likens. Fundamentals of Ecosystem Science. Academic Press, NY.
Davidson E.A. and I.A. Janssens. 2006. Temperature sensitivity of soil carbon decomposition and feedbacks to climate change. Nature 440:165-173.
Woodward et al. 2012. Continental-scale effects of nutrient pollution on stream ecosystem functioning. Science 336, 1438.
5 Element Cycling 5
Schlesinger, W.H., J.J. Cole, A.C. Finzi, and E.A. Holland. 2011. Introduction to coupled biogeochemical cycles. Frontiers in Ecology and Environment 9: 5-8
Elser, J. et al. 2007. Global analysis of nitrogen and phosphorus limitation of primary producers in freshwater, marine and terrestrial ecosystems. Ecology Letters 10: 1135-1142.
Tank, J.L. et al. 2008. Are large rivers just big streams? A pulse method to quantify nitrogen demand in a large river. Ecology 89: 293-2945.
6 The Carbon Cycle 6
King, A.W., D.J. Hayes, D.N. Huntzinger, T.O. West, and W.M. Post. 2012. North American carbon dioxide sources and sinks: attribution, magnitude, and uncertainty. Frontiers in Ecology and Environment 10: 512-519.
Battin, T.J., S. Luyssaert, L.A. Kaplan, A.K. Aufdenkampe, A. Richter, and L.J. Tranvik. 2009. The boundless carbon cycle. Nature Geoscience 2: 598-600.
McLeod, E., G.L. Chumura, S. Bouillon, R. Salm, M. Bjork, C.M Duarte, C.E. Lovelock, W.H. Schlesinger, and B. Silliman. 2011. A blueprint for blue carbon: toward an improved understanding of the role of vegetated coastal habitats in sequestering CO2. Frontiers in Ecology and Environment 9: 552-560.
7 Biogeochemistry of Nitrogen 7
Galloway, J. N., J. D. Aber, J. W. Erisman, S. P. Seitzinger, R. W. Howarth, E. B. Cowling, B. J. Cosby. 2003. The nitrogen cascade. BioScience 53:341-356.
Cleland , E.E. and W.S. Harpole. 2010. Nitrogen enrichment and plant communities. Year in Ecology and Conservation Biology, Annuals of the New York Academy of Sciences 1195 : 46-61.
8 The Phosphorus Cycle 8
Beardsley, T. 2011. Peak phosphorus. BioScience, 61: 91-91.
Childers DL, Corman J, Edwards M, and Elser JJ. 2011. Sustainability challenges of phosphorus and food: Solutions from closing the human phosphorus cycle. BioScience 61: 117–124.
Elser, J.J. 2012. Phosphorus: a limiting nutrient for humanity? Current Opinion in Biotechnology 23: 833-838.
9 TU: Revisiting the Ecosystem Concept 9
Levin, S.A. 1998. Ecosystems and the biosphere as complex adaptive systems. Ecosystems 1: 431-436.
TH: Ecosystems in a Heterogeneous World 10
Cadenasso et al. 2007. Spatial heterogeneity in urban ecosystems: Reconceptualizing land cover and a framework for classification. Front. Ecol. Environ. 5: 80-88.
10 Predators
How do predators regulate ecosystems? What are the impacts of predators and what happens when predators are lost or restored?
Pace, M.L. 2013. Trophic cascades. Encyclopedia of Biodiversity, Edited by S. Levin. Elsevier.
Estes, J.A. and others. 2011. Trophic downgrading of planet earth. Science 333: 301-306.
Croll, D.A., J.L. Maron, J.A. Estes, E.M. Danner, G.V. Byrd. 2005. Introduced predators transform subarctic islands from grasslands to tundra. Science 307: 1959-1961.
Hebblewhite, M. and others. 2005. Human activity mediates a trophic cascade caused by wolves. Ecology 86: 2135-2144.
Donlan and others. 2006. Pleistocene rewilding: An optimistic agenda for Twenty-First century conservation. American Naturalist 168:660-681.
Prugh, L.R., C.J. Stoner, C.W. Epps, W.T. Bean, W.J. Ripple, A.S. Laliberte, and J.S. Brashares. 2009. The rise of the mesopredator. BioScience 59: 779-791
11 Controls on Ecosystem Structure and Function 11
Lawrence, D., P. D’Odorico, L. Diekmann, M. DeLonge, R. Das, and J. Eaton. 2007. Ecological feedbacks following deforestation create the potential for a catastrophic ecosystem shift in a tropical dryland forest. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 104: 20696-20701.
Scheffer, M., J. Bascompte, W. A. Brock, V. Brovkin, S. R. Carpenter, V. Dakos, H. Held, E. H. van Nes,M. Rietkerk, and G. Sugihara. 2009. Early-warning signals for critical transitions. Nature 461:53-59.
Carpenter, S. R., J. J. Cole, M. L. Pace, R. Batt, W. A. Brock, T. Cline, J. Coloso, J. R. Hodgson, J. F. Kitchell, D. A. Seekell, L. Smith, and B. Weidel. 2011. Early warnings of regime shifts: A whole-ecosystem experiment. Science 332:1079-1082.
12 Landscape, Ecosystems, Diversity and Disease 13
Jones, K. E., et al. 2008. Global trends in emerging infectious diseases. Nature 451: 990-993.
Keesing, F. et al. 2010. Impacts of biodiversity on the emergence and transmission of infectious diseases. Nature 468: 647-652
Yates, T.L. and others. The ecology and evolutionary history of an emergent disease: hantavirus pulmonary syndrome. BioScience 52: 989-998.
13 Ecosystems and Human Well Being
How are ecosystem related to human well being? How are ecosystem services changing? How can ecosystems be managed? What uncertainties inhibit decision making? How will ecosystems change in the future and how will these changes impact human well being?
TU: Millennium Ecosystem Assessment. 2005. Ecosystems and Human Well Being: Synthesis, pages 26-102 (Chapter 1-9)
TH: Matson, P. From Global Environmental Change to Sustainability Science 12
14 Frontiers in Ecosystem Science 17
Palmer and others. 2004. Ecology for a crowded planet. Science 304: 1251-1252.
Biggs, R. and others. 2010. Preparing for the future: teaching scenario planning at the graduate level. Frontiers in Ecology and Environment 8: 267-273.
Groffman, P.M. et al. 2010. Restarting the conversation: challenges at the interface between ecology and society. Frontiers in Ecology and Environment 8: 284-291.
What to Address in Paper Reviews (1-2 pages)
1. What is (are) the main issues being addressed or question(s) being asked and tested?
2. Why is this issue or question of interest and importance?
3. For Research Papers: What approach was used to address the question? (experimental approach, comparative approach, budgetary approach, modeling, computer simulation, etc.). Explain briefly.
4. What is the answer(s) that they give to the question?
How sure are they? Are there alternative explanations or answers?
5. What other questions are raised by the research – by the authors or by YOU?
Other Notes and BISC 619 Policies
1. Special Needs. Students with special needs (e.g. physical handicaps or learning disabilities) who need to make special arrangements should consult the instructor within the first two weeks of the semester.
2. Challenges to Assigned Grades. Challenges to assigned grades will be welcomed in writing. A written format provides you the opportunity to present an articulate and well-considered argument. Challenges must be submitted within one week of a graded assignment.
3. Academic Integrity. Any form of misconduct – cheating, plagiarism, fabrication – will not be tolerated and will subject violators to a failing grade in the course. I do encourage students to collaborate in studying and to review each other’s written assignments, but all work turned in for a grade must be completed only by the student submitting the work.
4. Incompletes. Incompletes will not be given except in extreme circumstances beyond a student’s control.
5. Withdrawals. The last date for withdrawal is March 4, 2014 (no refunds)
This syllabus is subject to change at the discretion of the instructor to accommodate instructional and/or student needs.