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Ecosystem Modeling Course

Offered over Winter Break

 

ES 0268 "Ecosystem Modeling for Non-Programmers," taught by Ed Rastetter of the Ecosystems Center, MBL,  is a 3-week intensive (6 hr/day, 5 days/wk) January course with student modeling projects running through the spring semester.  It is a graduate class offered through the Brown-MBL program, but will be open to qualified undergraduates.  The class will be run only if we have enough graduate students signed up.  Registration is still open even though the preregistration period has closed.  

Please see attachment for additional information.

If you are interested in this course please contact Ed Rastetter at 508-289-7483, erastett@mbl.edu.

Indicate if you are a:

  1. Brown-MBL graduate student
  2. Graduate student
  3. Undergraduate student
  4. If undergrad are you a Freshman, Sophomore, Junior or Senior

ES 0268 Ecosystem Modeling for Non-Programmers

Instructor:  Edward B. Rastetter, The Ecosystems Center, MBL
Prerequisites: A basic grasp of calculus

Course Summary
Ecology is a relatively young science that grew from the largely descriptive discipline of Natural History. As the science has matured, it has begun to develop a firm quantitative foundation. For the most part, this foundation has been statistical (Regression, Correlation, Analysis of Variance, Ordination). The purpose of this course is to introduce the students to the other component of this quantitative foundation, dynamic simulation modeling of ecological processes.

            The students will first be exposed to the role of models in science and the relationship of models to scientific theories. Then the basics of calculus are reviewed in the context of the mass-balance concept.  Next the students are introduced to numerical (as opposed to analytical) solutions of the mass-balance equation; that is, they are taught how to get a computer to do all the hard math.  They then apply these techniques to a series of examples including the growth of an individual organism and of a population of organisms, the interactions within species communities (competition for resources, predator-prey systems), the cycling of elements within ecosystems, the hydrology of a watershed, and an analysis of the CO2 balance of the atmosphere.

            The students will use what they learn over the course of the semester to develop their own simulation model of an ecosystem.  They are provided with a model shell that includes a Windows™ interface, integrator, and graphical-output package.  The student then provides a set of equations describing the ecological processes they want to simulate.  These equations are typically based on the simple concept of a mass balance and can be applied to ecosystem element cycles, population dynamics, or community interactions.

Required Text
None. Students will be assigned chapters from selected texts and papers from the primary literature.

Students will be loaned a copy of "Code Gear Delphi for Microsoft Windows", which they must return at the end of the semester.  Students can purchase a copy of their own for about $120 with their educational discount.  

What I expect from you, the student:
The students will complete about six programming problems that illustrate the topics covered in lecture.  Students will be evaluated predominantly on a semester project.  In that project they will develop their own simulation model, address some ecologically significant question with the model, and write a manuscript describing the model and analysis.  The manuscript is to be written as if it were to be submitted to a scientific journal (e.g., Ecology).  Students are encouraged to relate their project to their graduate research. Students are encouraged to discuss their projects with one another during the semester and seek one another's advice.  In addition, each student will make an oral presentation describing her or his project to the class.


There will be readings and worksheet exercises assigned during the January class to illustrate topics covered in class.

Tentative schedule:

Session 1                  Models in Science/Orientation to computers, software, programming          
Session 2                  Mass balance and a review of calculus/ The growth of a spherical cell 
Session 3                  Global C budget 
Session 4                  Numerical integration /Steady-state analysis  
Session 5                  Forest N budget
Session 6                  The Michaelis-Menton equation.
Session 7                  Catchment hydrologic budget
Session 8                  Catchment hydrologic budget continued
Session 9                  Population logistic and competing populations
Session 10                Predator-prey systems
Session 11                Parameter estimation and curve fitting
Session 12                The Multiple Element Limitation (MEL) Model.
Session 13                Island model
Session 14                Foret model
Session 15                In -class help with projects

Oral presentation of semester project last week of spring classes.
Write up of semester projects are due at end of spring semester in time for me to get grades in.