The main objective of the course is to introduce students to the logical and methodological principles that underpin the understanding of patterns of distribution, abundance and diversity of organisms in nature. The emphasis is on the use of quantitative methods of experimental ecology for a critical analysis of the paradigms of the discipline.
An introduction to ecology: problems, paradigms, habitats and organisms. Natural populations: demography, interactions, distribution. A logical approach to the analysis of ecological problems. Relationships between theory and experimentation. The design of ecological experiments. The experimental analysis of patterns of species distribution in space and time. The experimental analysis of ecological processes.