Office of Academic Affairs
Indian Institute of Science Education and Research Berhampur

BIO 315: Population Ecology (4(OE, Credit, 3))

Course Content:

A. SINGLE-SPECIES POPULATIONS
1. Individual vs. Population
2. Factors affecting population growth: Births, deaths, Immigration, Emigration
3. Population growth- Density-independent growth: geometric and exponential growth models; finite and intrinsic rates of growth.
4. Population growth- Density-dependent growth: Concept of Carrying capacity (K); Verhulst-Pearl Logistic growth model and its assumptions; Allee Effect; Growth models with time-lag and stochasticity; Theta-model; laboratory experiments and field studies; intrinsic growth rates.
5. Growth of age-structured populations: Life tables- survivorship, fertility, reproductive value, generation time; age pyramids, age structure and stable-age distribution; Leslie Matrix growth model
6. Metapopulation ecology: Basic concepts; relation to spatial ecology; MacArthur-Wilson equilibrium theory, Levin’s metapopulation;
7. Life history strategies: Longevity; age at first reproduction; frequency of reproduction, iteroparity and semelparity; Clutch size; Offspring number-size relation; cost of reproduction; Grime’s model of plant life history strategies; r- and K-selection and r-K continuum; effects of predation and competition.
B. INTERSPECIFIC INTERACTIONS
1. Interspecific competition: Resource competition and interference competition; Competition and coexistence in nature; Lotka-Volterra competition model; Conditions for coexistence; Character displacement; Resource-based competition models; Competitive exclusion principle; Laboratory and field experiments.
2. Prey-predator interactions: Concept of prudent predator; Lotka-Volterra equations; Numerical and functional responses of predator to prey density; Rosenzweig-MacArthur model; Optimal foraging theory; role of predation in nature; niche dimensionality.
3. Host-parasite interactions: Basic models; disease dynamics
4. Mutualism: Models of mutualism; Plant-pollinator interactions
5. Plant-herbivore interactions: Chemical defenses; allelopathy; Constitutive and induced defenses; Plant apparency and chemical defense; herbivore responses
6. Niche theory
7. Population regulation
C. APPLIED POPULATION ECOLOGY
1. Overfishing of natural fish populations
2. Biological control of pest insects

Suggested Reading::

• Begon, M., and C. R. Townsend, 2005. Ecology-From individuals to populations. 4th ed. John Wiley and Sons. ISBN-10: 9781405111171
• Gotelli, N. J., 2008. A primer of ecology. 4th ed., Sinauer Assoc. Publ.
• Kormandy, E., 2017. Concepts of Ecology. Updated 4th ed. Pearson Education, India. ISBN-10: 9332586098
• Krebs, C J., Ecology: The experimental analysis of distribution and abundance. 6th ed. Pearson Education, India. ISBN-10: 9332575746
• Ricklefs, R. E., and R. Relyea, 2014. Ecology: The economy of nature. 7th ed. W. H. Freeman publ. ISBN-10: 1429249951
• Smith, 2014. Elements of Ecology. 8th ed. Pearson Education, India. ISBN-10: 9332536694
• Stirling, P., 2014. Ecology (International 2nd edition), McGraw-Hill Education, ISBN-10: 9781259252310

Reference books:::

• Dickinson, G., and K. Murphy, 2007. Ecosystems. 2nd.ed. Routledge, New York, N.Y.
• Jørgensen, S. E. (Ed), 2009. Ecosystem ecology. Elsevier, Amsterdam.
• Loreau, M., 2010. From populations to ecosystems: Theoretical foundations for a new ecological synthesis. Princeton Univ. Press, Princeton, N.J.
• Millennium Ecosystem Assessment, 2005. Island Press, Washington, DC
• Mittelbach, G. G., 2012. Community ecology. Sinauer Associates.
• Morin, P. J., 2010. Community ecology. 2nd ed. Wiley-Blackwell.
• Sala, O.E., Jackson, R.B., Mooney, H.A., Howarth, R.W. (Eds.), 2000. Methods in ecosystem science. Springer Publ.

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