Readings for Monday

I've posted links to the readings for Monday's lecture. You'll notice (if you look closely and have a good memory) that I've rearranged the lectures a bit.

• I've decided to shave one lecture off the PVA series, so that we'll finish PVA on Wednesday. I've added another lecture on reserve design later

• I've changed the date on which I plan to assign Project #2 from Monday, 17 October to Wednesday, 19 October. Correspondingly, the due date has been changed from Monday, 24 October to Wednesday, 26 October.

It's conceivable, though not likely, that I'll have notes for Monday's lecture posted by later tonight. It's more likely that they'll appear tomorrow or Sunday.

Demographic modeling

In the notes for today's lecture I note that to project population dynamics with a matrix model you could “write a little program, throw in the numbersd, and see what happens.” There's actually an easier way, if you're willing to spend a little money. RAMAS Stage will do the calculations for you. (You still have to collect the data.)

Population viability analysis

I've posted notes on population viability analysis for tomorrow's lecture. We will not spend much time on the matrix algebra. (But I can't help myself. We will spend some time.) Try not to let the math worry you too much.

Systematics and endangered species conservation

As promised, the notes for tomorow's lecture on systematics are now posted. We'll start by finishing up a few things we didn't discuss concerning genetic threats to persistence in small populations. Please come armed with questions about anything you don't understand. I'd like to have a good discussion about genetics before we move on.

I realize that it's short notice, but if you have a chance to glance at the papers associated with tomorrow's class before lecture, that would be great. They illustrate some important issues, and I'm confident that there will be some disagreement among you which approach is the best one to take. I'd like to spend some time in lecture exploring those differences.

Project #1

Project #1 is now available. Click on the lecture for next Monday and you'll find the links. I'd hoped to get this posted earlier today, but too many other things came up.

I will get the notes for Monday's lecture posted before Monday morning, but it may be fairly late on Sunday before they're there. Sorry about that.

Genetics of small populations

Notes for Wednesday's lecture on the genetics of small populations are now available.

I also received an e-mail telling me that there are some references missing from the bibliography of Groom et al. You can download a PDF with the missing references from Sinauer's web site.

Additional notes and a reminder

Please remember that Dave Roberts, Royal Botanical Gardens Kew, will be giving a guest lecture in class tomorrow. Come prepared to ask lots of tough questions.

On Wednesday, we'll start our detailed discussions of the biology of small populations. There's a good chance that we'll make it through the set of notes that I've posted for the 14th and get started on those that I've just posted for the 19th. So you may want to take a look at both sets of notes before lecture on Wednesday.

Notes & readings for 9/14

I've just uploaded the notes introducing some ideas about the biology of small populations, and I've added some suggested readings to accompany the lecture on 9/14. (One of them will look familiar.)

I plan to spend a few minutes at the start of lecture reviewing some of the points we covered last week about the biology of human-caused extinctions. If you have questions about what we covered or about the Endangered Species Act, please bring them with you.

Groom, Meffee, & Carroll is in

I just spoke with someone in the textbook department of the Co-Op. She confirmed that the Co-Op now has copies of Groom, Meffee, & Carroll (and that someone has already discovered this and bought a copy).