Ecology 1: concepts, tools and applications

The general aim is to consolidate the ecological foundations acquired by students, and to give them the tools to mobilize them in an integrative way to interpret the functioning of ecological systems. The course includes: 1) lectures covering the concepts of ecology from population to macro-ecological scales, with examples of applications that place the discipline in the current ecological and societal context; 2) practical work and tutorials focusing on tools (sampling strategies, modelling, data analysis); 3) field courses in which students are invited to ask themselves relevant scientific questions based on observation in a given situation, and to mobilize their knowledge to answer them in a reasoned way.

Summary content of the EU :

- CM: History of the emergence of concepts in ecology; Population dynamics / metapopulations; Biotic interactions and food webs; Ecology of communities, meta-communities; Ecology of ecosystems / functional ecology; Notions of macroecology / biogeography; Global change and ecosystem functioning;

- Field: Integrative analysis of ecosystem functioning in real-life situations ;

- TD/TP: sampling and experimentation strategies in ecology; modeling in population/meta-population dynamics, community/meta-community ecology, food webs; biodiversity measurements (alpha, beta, etc.)."

- Knowledge of the history of the emergence of concepts in ecology;

- Mastery of the theoretical bases of ecology, from the population scale (with a link to population genetics, which is covered in the S1 Evolution EU) to macroecological scales;

- Ability to link the theoretical corpus of ecology and evolutionary biology;

- Knowledge of societal issues related to biodiversity and the functioning of ecological systems;

- Mastery of basic ecological modeling tools (population/metapopulation dynamics, communities, food webs);

- Ability to set up a sampling or experimentation strategy to answer an ecological question;

- Ability to characterize biodiversity at different scales (alpha, beta, gamma), knowledge of inventory and analysis methods.

- Advanced level in general ecology

- Skills acquired in ecology degree courses (functional ecology, community ecology).

100% continuous assessment