Simon Fraser University s1

SIMON FRASER UNIVERSITY BISC 309 – Conservation Biology Spring 2009

GENERAL INFORMATION

Instructor: Dr. David Green ([email protected])

Office: B8273 Tel: 778 782 3981

Office Hours: Monday 1030-1230 or by appointment

Teaching Assistant: Carlos Palomera-Garcia [email protected]

Lectures: M/W/F, 0930-1020 RCB 8100

Tutorials: Group Day Time Room

D101 T 1230-1320 AQ 5018 D102 R 1230-1320 AQ 5019 D103 F 1330-1420 AQ 5026 D105 M 1430-1520 AQ 5036

TEXTBOOKS

Recommended but not required

Principles of Conservation Biology (Third Edition 2006) Groom MJ, Meffe GK, Carroll RC and Contributors Sinauer MA

Copies have been placed on 2 hour reserve in the Library ADDITIONAL MATERIAL ON RESERVE

Beissinger and McCullough (2002) Population viability analysis Chicago Univ Press QH 352.5 P66 2002

Caughley G and Gunn A (1996) Conservation biology in theory and practise Blackwell SCi QH 75 C38 1996

Frankham R, Ballou JD and Briscoe DA (2002) Introduction to Conservation Genetics. Cambridge University Press.

Gotelli NJ (2001) A primer of ecology 3rd Ed QH352 G67 2001

Soule ME (1986) Conservation Biology Sinauer

Soule ME and Orians GH (2001) Conservation Biology- Research priorities for the next decade. Island Press

BOOKS THAT CAN BE BORROWED FROM INSTRUCTOR

Mace GM Balmford A and Ginsberg JR (1998) Conservation in a changing world. Cambridge University Press.

Young AG and Clarke GM (2000) Genetics Demography and viability of fragmented populations. Cambridge University Press

Additional reading to supplement lectures and for discussion in tutorials will involve reading papers from the primary literature. Many of these articles will be made available as pdf’s or can be accessed online from the SFU Library webpage. If you go directly to the journal in the library please take great care to reshelve the periodicals in the proper spot. TUTORIAL OUTLINE

Week Topic

2. Organisation of presentation dates Genetic variation, inbreeding and vulnerability of populations

3. Genetic variation and evolutionary potential What is a species? 4 Allee effects 5 Edge effets 6 Review for midterm 7 Patches and Landscapes 8 Corridors 9 PVAs and conservation decision making 10 Biological Invasions 11 Problem solving 1 12 Biodiversiy assessment surrogacy and Reserve design 13 Problem solving 2

Weeks 4 -5, 7-10, and 12 will also have student presentations/mini-lectures

FORMS OF ASSESSMENT

1. MIDTERM AND FINAL – 20% each

2. MINI-LECTURES 15% Students (in groups of 2 and 3) will present a 15 minute lecture on a conservation topic that will be followed by 10 minutes of discussion. The content of the lecture should introduce a conservation topic/question and describe recent research that relates to the question introduced. The goals of the mini-lecture are for presenters to explore the science relating to a conservation issue using the primary literature (papers in scientific journals) and develop their ability to communicate scientific information to a scientific audience students in the tutorials to be exposed to a diversity of conservation topics and conservation research. See the mini-lecture infosheet for more details

3. NEWSPAPER ARTICLE Individual students will write a short newspaper article that introduces a current issue in conservation and describes recent research that addresses this issue. This article is intended for a lay audience and the intent is to have some of these articles published in The Peak.

4. RECOVERY PLANS Individual students are required to write a simplified recovery plan for a threatened species in BC. This plan may be for any species listed by COSEWIC as endangered or vulnerable that does not yet have a recovery plan or be on the COSEWIC list of candidate species for assessment The BC Ecosystem and Species Explorer website (www.env.gov.bc.ca/atrisk/toolintro.html) should be used to determine whether the species is a suitable candidate for this assignment.

PLAGIARISM

Plagiarism is a form of cheating where a person claims that a project, presentation, essay or part produced entirely or partly by another person is really there own. Plagiarism will not be tolerated Be sure you know what is acceptable. If in doubt read SFU’s Code of Academic Honesty (www.sfu.ca/policies/teaching/t10-02.htm) Take the SFU Library Plagiarism tutorial (see link in WebCT) Alternatively ask Dr Green or a TA

In the context of this class it is not acceptable to Use powerpoint presentations or parts of lectures prepared by others and claim to have prepared them yourselves. Submit a newspaper article or recovery plan written by someone else, patched together from articles in journals or on the web or based on work that has already been published by other scientists

We will be following university guidelines in dealing with any suspected cases of plagiarism.

SFUs Policy on Academic Misconduct can be read at www.sfu.ca/policies/teaching/t10-03.htm

The consequences of being caught are high!!

MARK DISTRIBUTION Midterm 20% Final Exam 20% Tutorial: Presentation 15% Tutorial: Participation 5% Newspaper article 15% Recovery Plan 25%

GRADING

Numerical grades will be converted to letter grades as follows 90-100 A+ 60-64 C+ 85-89 A 55-59 C 80-84 A- 50-54 C- 75-79 B+ 45-49 D 70-74 B 0-44 F 65-69 B- TENTATIVE LECTURE SCHEDULE Weekstarting Lecture Topic INTRO, CONSERVATION GENETICS Wk 1- Jan 5 1 Introduction 2 Threats to Biodiversity 3 Genetic diversity – how to describe it Wk 2 Jan 12 4 Genetic diversity – how important is it 5 Genetic diversity and Evolutionary potential - 6 Assessment - guidelines SMALL POPULATIONS Wk 3 -Jan 19 7 Popn growth- stochasticity 8 Popn Growth - allee effects 9 GUEST – Dave Redding (SFU) – EDGE species Wk 4- Jan 26 10 Fragmentation 11 Edge Effects 12 GUEST – SARA 1 Wk 5 - Feb 2 13 Ecological Traps METAPOPULATIONS 14 Metapopulations 15 GUEST – SARA – recovery planning Wk 6- Feb 9 16 Matrix 17 Corridors 18 GUEST Wk 7 -Feb 16 x Midterm break – no class x MIDTERM 19 GUEST MANAGING BIODIVERSITY Wk 8 - Feb 23 20 PVA1 21 PVA2 22 GUEST Wk 9 - Mar 2 23 Invasions 24 Biological Control 25 Restoration Wk 10 -Mar 9 26 Reintroduction 27 Tutorial Week 11 Set up 28 GUEST – Blair Hammond Ecosystem Conservation CWS Wk 11- Mar 16- 29 Surrogacy 30 Reserves 1 31 GUEST Wk 12 Mar 23 32 Reserves 2 33 Conservation Decisions 34 GUEST Mar 30 35 Climate Change 36 GUEST 37 SUMMARY