Learning Objectives

Students who complete this course will be able to:

1. Explain the underlying principles of ecology from the perspective of scientific philosophy
2. Describe the distribution pattern of the population and the characteristics of the community
3. Develop understanding of ecosystem principles at different scales, including biomes, and identify how ecosystem structure relates to function, and the dynamics of ecosystems
4. Understand how organisms have evolved and adapted to their environments
5. Recognize social structure and responsibility towards environmental protection

Unit 1: Principles of Ecology and Philosophical Perspectives (8 hrs)

1.1 Ecology as a science: Integration, Understanding, Scales in ecology

1.2 Energy flow and nutrient cycling in ecosystems

1.3 Nature of scientific understanding, Modes of understanding (Science, Faith and Art), Deep ecology

1.4 Classical philosophy of science and its integration in ecological understanding, Modern philosophy of science (Demarcation, Falsification, Covering-law model, Reductionism)

1.5 Contemporary/emerging science philosophy (Constructivism, Realism, and Postmodernism), Approaches to scientific reasoning (Induction and Deduction)

Unit 2: Population and Community Ecology (7 hrs)

2.1 Population ecology: Demography, Population growth, Regulation of population size (Extrinsic and intrinsic mechanisms)

2.2 Eco-physiological adaptations to terrestrial and aquatic environments

2.3 Community ecology: Species interactions, Competition, Predator-prey oscillations (Lotka-Volterra model), Herbivory and mutualism, Disease, Food web interactions, Trophic dynamics and cascades, Patch dynamics

2.4 Factors that limit distributions and abundance (biotic and abiotic) of species

Unit 3: Ecosystem Dynamics and Applications (10 hrs)

3.1 Ecosystem metabolism (Primary and secondary production), Ecological niche (Breadth and Overlap)

3.2 Succession: Clements's climax concept, Gleason's individualistic concept, Pattern and process in ecosystem, Stability analysis of ecosystems

3.3 Concepts of species diversity (Species richness, Heterogeneity, Evenness),Species richness measures (Rarefaction method, Jackknife estimate, Bootstrap procedure, Species area curve estimates)

3.4 Heterogeneity measures (Simpson’s index, Shannon-Wiener function, Brillouin’s index, Species abundance models), Evenness measures (Simpson’s measure, Camargo’s index of evenness, Smith and Wilson’s index of evenness)

3.5 Gradient analysis, ordination, and beta diversity measurements, Measurement of similarity (Binary similarity coefficients, Distance coefficients, Correlation coefficients, and other similarity measures)

3.6 Cluster analysis: Single linkage clustering, Complete linkage clustering, Average linkage clustering.

Unit 4: Bio-geography and Biomes (7 hrs)

4.1 Major biomes: Concept and Distribution

4.2 Terrestrial biomes and their characteristics: Tundra, Northern coniferous forest, Moist temperate coniferous forest, Temperate deciduous forests, Broad-leaved evergreen subtropical forest, Tropical rain forest, Tropical deciduous forests, Grassland, and Arid land

4.3 Biogeographic regions of Nepal

4.4 Forests of Nepal: Management regime, Geographic location, Sustainable management, and certification

4.5 Geological time and Continental drift

4.6 Island biogeography theory

Unit 5: Evolutionary Ecology (6 hrs)

5.1 Evolutionary ecology: Concept and Historical perspective

5.2 Major ecological transitions, Natural selection, and the genetic basis of evolutionary change

5.3 Speciation, Evolutionary consequences of species interactions

5.4 Extinction, Macro-ecology and Macro-evolution

5.5 Demography of source-sink populations and Evolution of ecological niches

5.6 Evolutionary significance of phenotypic plasticity in organisms

Unit 6: Environment and Social Responsibility (7 hrs)

6.1 Social structure and responsibilities

6.2 Socialization process, Norms and values as means of social cohesion

6.3 Gender equality: meaning and gaps

6.4 Global gender equality agenda, Gender leadership, and environmental protection

6.5 GESI perspectives on environmental issues

References

1. Aggarwal, B. (2013). Gender and green governance. Oxford University Press, London
2. Begon, M., & Mortimer, M. (1986). Population ecology: a unified study of animals and plants. Blackwell Publishing Ltd., Oxford.
3. Bhadra, C. (Ed). (2013). Gender Studies. Oxford International Publication, Kathmandu.
4. Byrne, A., Cohen, J., Rosen, G., & Shiffrin, S.V. (Eds). (2015). The Norton Introduction to philosophy. WW Norton and Co.
5. Commoner, B. (1971). The closing circle. Bantom Books, New York.
6. Crawley, M. J. (Ed). (1997). Plant ecology. Blackwell Science, London.
7. Golley, F.B. (1993). A history of the ecosystem concept in ecology. Yale University Press, New Haven.
8. Kingsland, S.E. (1991). Defining ecology as a science. In Real, L.A., & Brown, J.H. (Eds.), Foundations of ecology. University of Chicago Press, USA.
9. Kormondy, E.J. (1996). Concepts of ecology. Prentice-Hall, New Delhi.
10. Krebs, C.J. (1994). Ecology: the experimental analysis of distribution and abundance. 4th ed. Harper Collins, New York.
11. Odum, E.P., & Barrett, G.W. (2005). Fundamentals of ecology. 5th ed. Saunders Company, Sunderland.
12. Pickett, S., Kolasa, J., & Jones, C. (2007). Ecological understanding: the nature of theory and theory of nature. 2nd ed. Academic Press, Waltham.
13. Putman, R.J. (1994). Community ecology. Chapman and Hall, London.
14. Salmon, M.H., Earman, J., Glymour, C., Lennox, J.G., Machamer, P., McGuire, J.E., Norton, J.D., Salmon, W.C., & Schaffner, K.F. (1992). Introduction to the philosophy of science. Prentice-Hall Inc.
15. TISC. (2010). Forest and vegetation of Nepal. Tree Improvements and Silviculture Project, Ministry of Forest and Soil Conservation, Government of Nepal, Kathmandu