Ecology of the Southwest

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List of Topics:

Topic  (Number & Title)

 

 

Part I.  A Sense of Ecology

Click on a Topic to link to its Learning Goals;    

Click on the “Homework” link for a topic to find homework assignments & answers.

Week 1:  What is Ecology?

 

1 - A Sense of Place, A Sense of Purpose

 

2 - Ways of Knowing: What is Ecology?

 

3 - Ecological Constraints

 

 

 

Week 2:  What is the Southwest?

 

4 -                 Global Climate

 

5 - Southwest Climate & Landscapes

Homework - graph of ave. monthly precip. a site in the SW - follow link to Topic 5 (@ left)

 

 

Week 3:  Change is the Only Constant

 

The Physical Environment - cont'd.

 

6 - Disturbance & Succession

 

 

 

Week 4:  The Human Animal

 

7 - Why Rabbits Have so Many Babies

 

8 - Population Growth

 

9 - Human Ecology

 

 

 

Week 5:  … & Other Animals

 

10 - Why Are Big Fierce Animals Rare?

 Leopold "Odyssey"

11 - Predators & Their Prey

 Leopold "Think Like a Mountain" & "Escudilla"

Beast in the Garden  Discussion 1

read pages 5-36 & be able to address the linked questions

   

Topic  (Number & Title)

 

Part II.  One -Earth, Many Homes

 

Weeks 6 & 7:  “Climb the Mountains …”

 
12 - Exam 1

 Study Guide!

 13 -Life Zones,- Introduction

 
   

14  –  Alpine Tundra & Treeline

 
15 - Beast in Garden Discussion 2 pages 37-78; Questions
   

Week 8:  High Mountain Forests

**For all of the communities we study, be able to name an indicator animal &/or describe the animal interaction(s) outlined by your class-mates, & name the dominant plants!!

16 - Subalpine Forests

 
17 - Subalpine Forests

 

Fire Policy & Beast  Discussion 3

pages 81-166; Questions

 

 

Week 9:  People in the Forest

 

18 -  Ponderosa Pine Forests

  

 Vallecito All-Day Field Trip

 
19 - Human Land-use in the Forest  

 

 

Week 10:  The Foothills & Cold Deserts

 
20 - Cryptobiotics - Keystone of Colo. Plateau  Belnap

21- Sagebrush: Endangered Habitat?

 

22-Pinyon-Juniper & Mtn. Shrub

  Readings: Leopold "Cheat Takes Over";
HCN 2/4/02: "Last Dance of the Sage Grouse" - http://www.hcn.org/issues/219/10992 ;
HCN 5/22/00: "Save our Sagebrush" - http://www.hcn.org/issues/179/5809

Beast Discussion 4

 pages 169-240; Questions                           video Link: http://www.hcn.org/articles/video-still-howling-wolf
   

Week 11:  Water: Liquid Gold of the SW

  
23 -  Riparian Ecology HCN 11/26/07: "Beetle Warfare" - http://www.hcn.org/issues/359/17368
24 -    EXAM 2 – Part II. material

Study Guide!
   
   

Week 12:  Hot Deserts

 

25 -Hot Deserts

26 (see above) - Sonoran Dances

 

Nabhan essays

HCN 5/28/98: “Tackling Tamarisk” - http://www.hcn.org/issues/131/4174

 

 

Topic

 

Part III. Sustainability in Ecological Systems

 

Week 13:  Threats to Native Species

 

27 - Habitat Loss & Fragmentation

 

28 - Species Extinctions

Leopold “Monument to the Pigeon”

28 - Exotic Species

Extinction Video worksheet with questions (in class)

 

 

Conservation & Ethics

 

29 - Restoration Ecology

Leopold’s “Land Ethic”

30 - Conservation Biology: Closing

  Sustainable Agriculture

Final Exam - Cumulative

 Study Guide!
   

FINAL EXAM

 Monday 12/16, 4:30-6:30 pm

   

 

 

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