Current Topics in Ecology

BIOL 402T, Spring 2003

Umbonia crassicornis treehoppers engaged in a tutorial.

Instructor: Dr. Manuel A. Morales
Office: BIOL 215, x2983
E-mail: Manuel.A.Morales@williams.edu
Office Hours: by appointment

Course Overview

In this tutorial, we will examine current controversies in ecology and evolutionary biology, with a special focus on recent synthetic approaches. We will meet in groups of 2 or 3, with one presenter and one or two challengers. Throughout the semester, you will give 4 presentations.

Presentations will begin the first week. Each group will meet for 75 minutes once per week (either Monday, Wednesday, Friday from 8:30 -9:45 a.m.) + one additional time to be determined.

Grading

Your grade will be based on 4 "position papers" (5 pp. each), accompanying oral presentations, and your participation as challenger (including questions to be handed in at the end of each session). You have the option of rewriting your first paper - your grade will be the average of the two efforts.

Honor Code

The usual provisions of the honor code as laid out in the Student Handbook applies to all work in this course. It is expected that presenters and challengers meeting in the same session will share information about reference materials and inform each other about the nature of their papers as they develop. Students in different sessions, however, should not collaborate. Students may not discuss their session with students whose session has not met (this includes both presenters and challengers). Finally, the writing of the papers and the presentations to the tutorial group are considered independent not collaborative efforts.