I just finished sending an e-mail to each of you with three papers attached for your evaluation. Please take a look at them as soon as you can and make sure you can open them successfully. I don't foresee any problems, but it's better to catch them early. If you didn't get an e-mail from me with papers attached, let me know, and I'll re-send it.
September 2011 Archives
I've posted notes and readings for this week's lectures. We'll focus on two case studies: the northern spotted owl and the bay checkerspot butterfly. I've suggested more readings than you'll have time to digest in detail, but I encourage you to at least skim them to get an idea of the amount of effort that has gone into understanding the dynamics of these species.
Someone just pointed out to me that although the Federal Register has in text references -- like Mayr (1942) -- it doesn't include a bibliography that allows you to find the references. If I knew that, I'd forgotten it. It seems odd. A Web of Science search should turn up some of the more recent references. Google Scholar should turn up some of the older ones. It looks as if you may have to depend almost entirely on evidence internal to the Federal Register document.
I did just discover that FWS runs a website devoted specifically to the western Great Lakes gray wolf population. And the period for public comment has been extended to September 26th, which just happens to be the day Project #1 is due. If you'd like to make your analysis part of the public record that FWS has to consider in making its final rule, I encourage you to submit your paper to them.
I did just discover that FWS runs a website devoted specifically to the western Great Lakes gray wolf population. And the period for public comment has been extended to September 26th, which just happens to be the day Project #1 is due. If you'd like to make your analysis part of the public record that FWS has to consider in making its final rule, I encourage you to submit your paper to them.
I mentioned in lecture a time or two ago that the Fish & Wildlife Service is considering a listing of the dunes sagebrush lizard under the Endangered Species Act. I also mentioned that the proposed listing has generated a lot of resistance. Here are a few links that you may find interesting if you want to learn more about the case.
- Species profile (from the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service)
- "Saving the dunes sagebrush lizard could endanger oil production, lawmakers say" (from Fox News)
- "Meet the 'endangered' critter that could halt a fifth of America's oil production" (from Forbes)
- "Is the Obama administration protecting lizards at the expense of jobs?" (from The Daily Caller)
I've just posted the introductory set of notes on population viability analysis. Don't let the math scare you. The basic idea is pretty simple: Build a model that describes how population sizes change from one generation to the next, estimate the parameters of the model, and use the model to project the fate of the population you're interested in. Don't worry if you don't understand eigenvalues and eigenvectors. Focus on how they're used and bring questions to lecture on Wednesday.
I've posted the assignment for Project #1. You can find it on the detail page for tomorrow's lecture. I should have some notes on population viability posted by tomorrow evening or Tuesday morning.
I've posted notes and suggested readings on genetics. Please take a look at the Roman article. I think you'll find some issues raised in it that are worth discussing.
The Briggs article was accessible if you were plugged into a wire on campus or if you used the VPN, but not if you had a wireless connection through UConn Secure. I just fixed that. Let me know if you have any more problems.
If you'd like to try that little simulation I did at the end of today's lecture on your own, here's the code to do it:
get.reps <- function(n.reps, N, n.offspring, p.death) {
n <- rpois(n.reps, N*n.offspring)
n.surv <- numeric(n.reps)
for (i in 1:n.reps) {
n.surv[i] <- rbinom(1, n[i], p.death)
}
n.surv
}
run <- function(n.reps, N, n.offspring, p.death) {
dev.new()
n <- get.reps(n.reps, N, n.offspring, p.death)
cat("Mean population size:", round(mean(n), 0), "\n")
cat("Variance: ", round(var(n), 1), "\n")
hist(n/N, main="Distribution of relative population sizes")
}
You'll need a copy of R (a freely available statistical package for Linux, Mac OS X, and Windoze) to run the code. Simply cut and paste it into the terminal window, type "run(1000, 1000, 2, 0.5)" to get the results for 1000 replicates, starting with a population of 1000 individuals, with an average of 2 offspring per individual, and a probability of 0.5 for survival.
My notes for Wednesday didn't need as much revision as I thought they might. They're now ready for you to enjoy.
A word of warning. You'll find a fair amount of math in these notes, and you may find it a little scary. If I haven't said this already, let me say it now:
Your projects won't require you to do any calculations like those I'm illustrating in these notes. They'll require you to understand the conclusions we reach as a result of these calculations and how to apply them, but not how to do them.
I present the details of the calculations so that you understand the reasoning behind the principles we develop, and the limitations associated with them.
A word of warning. You'll find a fair amount of math in these notes, and you may find it a little scary. If I haven't said this already, let me say it now:
Your projects won't require you to do any calculations like those I'm illustrating in these notes. They'll require you to understand the conclusions we reach as a result of these calculations and how to apply them, but not how to do them.
I present the details of the calculations so that you understand the reasoning behind the principles we develop, and the limitations associated with them.
I think I've just managed to set this blog up so that posts will automatically appear on Twitter. If you're on Twitter and would like to get updates that way, you can either follow me @keholsinger (you'll get updates from my blog as well as from this course blog if you decide to do that) or you can just follow #EEB5310.
I've just posted new notes on the biology of small populations. If you go to the detail page for Monday's lecture, you'll also see that I've posted new notes on the Endangered Species Act. You can either link to the notes from there, or you can find them on the Notes page (click on "Notes" in the headline above). Enjoy! I should have notes for Wednesday's lecture up by later this afternoon. There's a good chance that we will still be talking about some different types of stochasticity in the first part of Wednesday's lecture, so you've already got a head start.
I've posted some suggested readings for our "Biology of small populations" segment, but Monday's lecture will start with a review of the Endangered Species Act. I'll also say a few words about (and invite comment on) the paper by Leitner and Neel. I'll have revised notes posted by sometime tomorrow. Sorry I didn't get them posted sooner, but I wasn't planning ahead. I ended up in meetings almost all day Thursday and Friday and had no time to revise them.
There's also a news article you may want to take a look at: Seven Hawaiian bees deserve, but don't get endangered status. If you haven't heard of warranted but not listed, you'll find it especially interesting.
There's also a news article you may want to take a look at: Seven Hawaiian bees deserve, but don't get endangered status. If you haven't heard of warranted but not listed, you'll find it especially interesting.
I didn't get them up quite as early as planned, but I've posted a brief introduction to the case study for Wednesday's class meeting along with a few questions to guide our discussion. You are likely to have questions you'd like to discuss in addition to those I've identified. Please bring them and come prepared for a lively discussion. I'm going to do as little talking myself as possible. I hope mostly to act as a moderator and facilitator.
I just learned of a new book published by Cambridge University Press that may interest some of you, Sources, Sinks, and Sustainability (published by Cambridge University Press).. I don't know whether the library has a copy yet, but judging from the table of contents (hit the "Google Preview" button on the book's web page and scroll down), it looks as if there are some interesting ideas in it.
