Species assemblages from local to global

The students of the general license of the University follow various introductory courses in ecology during their first two years of study. At the end of their third year, they are introduced to several fundamental concepts of adaptation of individuals to the environment and interactions between species (Concepts in Evolutionary Ecology HLBE503). In particular, they explore r/K evolutionary strategies, linking the adaptation of life cycles to disturbance regimes in natural environments. I propose to place the study of communities in continuity with these foundations, in order to illustrate the role of species' evolutionary strategies in community formation. This teaching will be based on a pedagogical sequence composed of lectures, tutorials and practical work carried out in the form of field projects.

The lectures will present the basics of community ecology in three blocks. The first will concern the definition of a community, and will approach the historical development of the discipline, through the perspectives of Gleason (1926) and Clements (1916). The second block will introduce the elements of description of communities, with the notions of diversities (alpha, beta, gamma) and their different indices. Finally, a third block will lead the students to think about the rules of assemblages in communities, through the role of evolutionary strategies r/K in successions, the notions of environmental filter and functional similarity limitation.

These courses will be held in parallel with a sequence of tutorials that will be organized according to a "data production-analysis-interpretation" scheme. First, the use of seriousgames will allow the production of data based on simplified ecological mechanisms. For this purpose, several serious games allowing to simulate communities are currently under development. These data will be collected by the students, to prepare their analysis. This analysis will take place in the form of a workshop to allow students to familiarize themselves with the calculation of diversity indices. Finally, time will be given to a return to the bibliography in order to investigate if the patterns produced through the sequence have a biological reality, and if they have been observed in nature (independent work and report).

Once the TD sequence is over, students will start setting up in situ community ecology experiments through an introduction to field ecology in the form of independent projects. Within this TP, a workshop will test Grime's (1988) competitive (C), stress tolerant (S) and ruderal (R) strategies through the analysis of plant functional traits. Simple methods have recently been published that allow individuals(let alone communities) to be placed on Grime's triangle (Pierce et al., 2017). The sequence will begin with a field trip on campus: students will choose two contrasting environments (lawns, ruderal area, woods, old wall) on which they will conduct a floristic inventory. Following this, they will take several individuals of each species to the laboratory to measure different functional traits. Once the measurements have been made, they will be able to calculate the various indices related to the CSR strategy. The sequence will conclude with a report and an oral presentation. Other workshops are currently being developed.

- Implementation of experimental protocols in ecology (continued HLBE304 & 405)

- general knowledge of functional ecology (material cycle)

- notions of population biology (r/K strategies)

- basic use of R (importing data - producing simple graphs)

- correct use of Excel (data entry and sorting)

Examination method: 100% continuous assessment

1/4 : TD report

1/4: oral presentation (individual grade)

1/4 : experience report (team note)

1/4 : final test

Knowledge

Definition of a community (history of the development of the discipline; 2 approaches: Gleason and Clements)

Description of a community (notions of diversity, alpha, beta, gamma & indices)

Ecological functioning of a community (area-species relationship; concept of succession; r/K evolutionary strategies and community dynamics; Grime's CSR model; limited similarity in communities)

How to be    

Autonomy     

Adaptation to field constraints (reactivity)    

Group work

How to do it  

Field: conduct a protocol; identify plants & animals studied

Laboratory: measurement of the main functional traits of plants & animals

Data management: data entry; sorting by Excel spreadsheet; data import in R

Representation: graphing with Excel; introduction to graphing with R

Analyses: calculation of alpha beta gamma diversity indices with R

Deliverable: report and scientific bibliography; oral presentation