Please check for updates frequently!
| Week | Dates | Topic | Readings | Due | X |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Week 1 | 1/19/2026 | NO CLASS: Holiday | |||
| 1/21/2026 | LECTURE: Course overview; Intro to Systems Thinking | Gotelli Chapter 1 | |||
| 1/23/2026 | LAB 1: Introduction to population modeling in Excel, InsightMaker, and R | ||||
| Week 2 | 1/26/2026 | LECTURE: Intro to Population Ecology; Exponential growth | Gotelli Chapter 1 | ||
| 1/28/2026 | LECTURE: Intro to Population Ecology; Exponential growth | Gotelli Chapter 1 | |||
| 1/30/2026 | LAB 1 (cont’d) | ||||
| Week 3 | 2/2/2026 | LECTURE: Malthus and exponential growth | Gotelli Chapter 2 | Instructor away | |
| 2/4/2026 | LECTURE: Density-dependent population growth | Gotelli Chapter 2 | Instructor away | ||
| 2/6/2026 | LAB 2: Density-dependent populations in InsightMaker; MSY | Lab 1 | |||
| Week 4 | 2/9/2026 | LECTURE: Density-dependent population growth | Gotelli Chapter 2 | ||
| 2/11/2026 | LECTURE: Passenger pigeon/Allee Effect | Gotelli Chapter 2 | |||
| 2/13/2026 | LAB 3: Age-structured populations in Excel and InsightMaker | Lab 2 | |||
| Week 5 | 2/16/2026 | President’s Day (no class) | |||
| 2/18/2026 | LECTURE: Age-structured populations | Gotelli Chapter 3 | Get in project groups | ||
| 2/20/2026 | Work in final project groups: PVA proposals | ||||
| Week 6 | 2/23/2026 | LECTURE: Age-structured populations | Gotelli Chapter 3 | ||
| 2/25/2026 | LECTURE: Matrix population models | Gotelli Chapter 3 | |||
| 2/27/2026 | LAB 4: Matrix population models in R and InsightMaker | Lab 3 | |||
| Week 7 | 3/2/2026 | LECTURE: Matrix population models | Gotelli Chapter 3 | PVA proposal | |
| 3/4/2026 | LECTURE: Matrix population models | Heppell 1998 (Optional) | |||
| 3/6/2026 | PVA projects: group meetings (or make alternate arrangements for a group meeting time) | ||||
| Week 8 | 3/9/2026 | Review for Midterm #1 | |||
| 3/11/2026 | MIDTERM #1 | ||||
| 3/13/2026 | LAB 5: Stochasticity and uncertainty | Lab 4 | |||
| Week 9 | 3/16/2026 | LECTURE: Stochasticity and uncertainty | Regan 2002 (Optional) | ||
| 3/18/2026 | LECTURE: Stochasticity and uncertainty | ||||
| 3/20/2026 | Work on PVA projects (PVA models due Apr 10) | ||||
| Week 10 | 3/23/2026 | Spring Break (no class) | |||
| 3/25/2026 | Spring Break (no class) | ||||
| 3/27/2026 | Spring Break (no class) | ||||
| Week 11 | 3/30/2026 | LECTURE: Small population paradigm | Caughley 1994 | ||
| 4/1/2026 | LECTURE: Declining population paradigm | ||||
| 4/3/2026 | LAB 6: Metapopulation modeling in InsightMaker | Lab 5 | |||
| Week 12 | 4/6/2026 | LECTURE: Metapopulations | Gotelli Chapter 4 | PVA models due | |
| 4/8/2026 | LECTURE: Metapopulations | Griffin et al | |||
| 4/10/2026 | PVA projects: group meetings (working model and description) | ||||
| Week 13 | 4/13/2026 | LECTURE: Source-sink dynamics | Gotelli Chapter 4 | ||
| 4/15/2026 | LECTURE: Parameter estimation | ||||
| 4/17/2026 | LAB 7 (optional-no assignment): Parameter estimation: mark-recapture data | Lab 6 | |||
| Week 14 | 4/20/2026 | Review for Midterm #2 | Complete PVA drafts | ||
| 4/22/2026 | MIDTERM #2 | ||||
| 4/24/2026 | LAB: Final Project Peer Review (submit peer review) | ||||
| Week 15 | 4/27/2026 | LECTURE: Species interactions: competition | Gotelli Chapter 5 | ||
| 4/29/2026 | LECTURE: Species interactions: predator-prey | Gotelli Chapter 6 | |||
| 5/1/2026 | LAB: STUDENT PRESENTATIONS | ||||
| Week 16 | 5/4/2026 | LECTURE: STUDENT PRESENTATIONS | |||
| 5/6/2026 | NO CLASS: Prep Day | ||||
| Week 17 | 5/11/2026 | FINAL EXAM (10:15am to 12:15pm), and extra credit assignments due | |||
| 5/13/2026 | FINAL PAPERS DUE |