Current Topics in Ecology and Evolution
EEB 3894 Overview
Undergraduate Seminar at the University of Connecticut, Storrs, Spring, 2009
1 credit
Thursday 2:30-5pm
Bamford conference room (Torrey Life Sciences 171b)
Instructors: Tobias Landberg & Katherine Shaw
We will meet all the distinguished scientists on this semester's list of speakers. Student will be responsible for participating in each meeting. We will read at least one research article written by a different visiting scholar every week. After a half hour of discussion, we will meet the person behind the science and then hear them give an hour-long research seminar. This course is for undergraduate students interested in broadening their understanding of modern ecology and evolutionary biology by engaging in active discussion.
Grades will be calculated out of 140 points (10 points/week)
Attendance= 4 points/week Show up to discussion and attend seminar every week.
Participation= 4 points/week Ask questions, volunteer comments and engage in constructive discussion with peers and speaker.
1 page response paper= 2 points/week Typed, double-spaced response to the research article.
Leading one discussion= 10 points Pick research article for the discussion, summarize and focus discussion with peers.
Spring 2009 Seminars
(Thursday @ 4:00PM in BPB 130 unless otherwise noted)
http://www.bry-backmanor.org/gardenfun/frogiconjoel.gif January 22, 2009 Stuart McDaniel (Washington University) Mating system, hybrid incompatibility, and diversification in mosses
January 29, 2009 Rick Blob (Clemson University) Functional diversity: insights from studies of weird animals doing strange things
February 2, 2009
Frank Moore (The University of Southern Mississippi)
TBA
MONDAY SEMINAR @ 4:00PM in BPB 130
February 5, 2009 [Bud Ward] (The Yale Forum on Climate Change and the Media) Bridging the Science/Journalism Gap in a Time of Epochal Change 4:00PM in Dodd Center: Teale Lecture Series
February 12, 2009 David Fastovsky (Harvard University) Catastrophic Extinction of the Dinosaurs at the Cretaceous-Tertiary boundary
February 19, 2009
Daniel C. Dennett (Tufts University)
4:00PM in Dodd Center
Darwin Lecture Series.
February 25, 2009 Erika Edwards (Brown University) How the cactus came to be
March 5, 2009 George Levine (Rutgers University) 4:00PM in Dodd Center Darwin Lecture Series.
March 19, 2009 J. B. Ruhl (Florida State University College of Law) 4:00PM in Dodd Center Teale Lecture Series. Ecosystem Services Science and Policy - A New Old Idea Finally Comes of Age
March 25, 2009 Gene Likens (Distinguished Research Professor (Visiting)) Salinization of an alpine lake from road salt
March 26, 2009 John Wiens (Stonybrook University) Integrating evolutionary biology and historical biogeography
April 2, 2009 Sandra Herbert (University of Maryland - Baltimore County) 4:00PM in Dodd Center Darwin Lecture Series.
April 9, 2009 Iolanda Ventura (University of Catholique de Louvain - Belgium) Book Culture and Experimental Science in Late Medieval Herbals
April 15, 2009 Julie Lockwood (Rutgers University) Propagule madness: definitions and null hypotheses in invasion ecology
April 23, 2009 Ian Tattersall (American Museum of Natural History) 4:00PM in Dodd Center Darwin Lecture Series.
April 30, 2009 Ian Tattersall (American Museum of Natural History) 4:00PM in Dodd Center Darwin Lecture Series.
EEB 3894 Semester Schedule
Date | Seminar Speaker | Presenter | Discussion Paper |
28 August | Chris Simon | Tobias & Kat | None - Discuss Syllabus and Website |
04 September | Intro to Reading Scientific Articles | Tobias & Kat | Jones, I.R. and E. Allen. 2002. Detection of large woody debris accumulations in old-growth forests using sonic wave collection. Transactions of the Important Tree Scientists 120(2): 201-209. |
11 September | Laura Galloway | Kat | Galloway, L. F. 2005. Maternal effects provide phenotypic adaptation to local environmental conditions. New Phytologist 166: 93-100.
[Current Research Info] -- extras |
18 September | Dov Sax | Scott Loescher | Sax, D.F. and J.H. Brown. 2000. The Paradox of Invasion. Global Ecology & Biogeography 9: 363-371. |
25 September (Darwin Lecture Series*) |
Janet Browne | Oluwasegun Lijofi | Browne, J. 2001. Darwin in Caricature: A Study in the Popularisation and Dissemination of Evolution. Proceedings of the American Philosophical Society 145: 496-509. Click Link to Go to JSTOR and Download PDF |
02 October (Darwin Lecture Series*) |
Daniel C. Dennett | Anastasia Gussen | Dennett, D. "Show Me The Science". The New York Times 28 Aug 2005: 1-4 |
09 October | Erika Edwards | Edwin Bolanos | Edwards, EJ & CJ Still. 2008. Climate, phylogeny and the ecological distribution of C4 grasses. Ecology Letters 11: 266-276. |
16 October (Teale Lecture Series*) |
J.B. Ruhl | Jess McShane | Ruhl, J. B. 2005. Ecosystem Services and the Common Law of "The Fragile Land System". Natural Resources and the Environment 20: 3-10. Also read this link for background on the "common law of nuisance" |
23 October | Gene Likens | Lauryn Kosturko | Kaushal, S.S. et al. 2005. Increased salinization of fresh water in the northeastern United States. PNAS 102: 13517-13520. |
30 October | John Wiens | Beth Findley | Wiens, J. J., C. H. Graham, D. S. Moen, S. A. Smith, and T. W. Reeder. 2006. Evolutionary and ecological causes of the latitudinal diversity gradient in hylid frogs: treefrog trees unearth the roots of high tropical diversity. American Naturalist 168:579-596. |
06 November (Darwin Lecture Series*) (Wednesday Seminar**) |
Sandra Herbert | Leslie Marker | Herbert, S. 2005. The Darwinian Revolution Revisited. Journal of the History of Biology 38: 51-66. |
13 November | Iolanda Ventura | Rosalia Santana | Ventura 2005 The last page |
20 November | Julie Lockwood | Brittany Crowley | Baiser, B., Lockwood, J., La Puma, D., Aronson, M.F.J. 2008. A perfect storm: two ecosystem engineers interact to degrade deciduous forests of New Jersey. Biol. Invasions 10: 785-795. |
27 November | **Thanksgiving Recess** | **No Class** | |
04 December (Darwin Lecture Series*) (Wednesday Seminar**) |
Ian Tattersall | Linda Quach | Tattersall, I. & Schwartz, J. 2008. The morphological distinctiveness of Homo sapiens and its recognition in the fossil record: Clarifying the problem. Evolutionary Anthropology: Issues, News, and Reviews 17: 49-54.
|
* Seminars in the Darwin Lecture Series and Teale Lecture Series are held in the Konover Auditorium of the Dodd Center (near the Homer Babbidge Library).
** The department seminar will be held on Wednesday of this week. We will discuss a paper on Thursday, and students are encouraged to attend the seminar on Wednesday.