The ecosystem approach to ecology treats organisms and the physical aspects of their environment as components of a single integrated system. Terrestrial ecosystem functioning is governed by interactions amongst animals, plants, and soil organisms, as well as exchanges of energy and resources with the atmosphere, soils, rocks, and aquatic environments. This advanced undergraduate level ecology course is focused on plant-soil interactions as being a fundamental determinant of the structure and functioning of terrestrial ecosystems around the world. As a group, we will attempt to synthesize recent advances arising from the ecosystem approach with established ecological theory to describe and explain ecosystem-level patterns and processes in the terrestrial environment.
The course content for the 2019 iteration will be centered on identifying, critiquing, and applying terrestrial ecosystem ecological concepts to address the following thematic question: What fundamentally distinctive concepts does ecosystem-level ecology provide that are essential in understanding ‘global planetary boundaries’ and our future sustainability?
Learning outcomes:
By the end of this course, the student should be able to:
- Explain and evaluate the major concepts in terrestrial ecosystem ecology that distinguish it from lower hierarchical levels such as community and population ecology
- Describe and contrast the major processes and features that distinguish local terrestrial ecosystem-types with special emphasis on the winter season
- Search, critically assess, and synthesize primary and secondary literature in the natural sciences
- Present a synthetic, logical, and individualistic seminar on a fundamental conceptual issue in terrestrial ecosystem ecology
- Develop, conduct, and analyse an experimental research study on some aspect of plant-soil relationships that affects ecosystem functioning
- Develop an original, cohesive, synthesis essay on the distinctive concepts of ecosystem-level ecology that are fundamentally necessary to understand global planetary boundaries and our future sustainability.
Professor: Paul Grogan
Lecture times: Mondays 10.00-11.30; Wednesdays 8.30-10.00
Lab/field trip times: Mondays: 2.30-5.30; Saturday field trip in February
Lab Instructor: Mike Lavender (E-mail: mike.lavender@queensu.ca; Office: Room 4231)
Location: Room 3110, (Labs 3311) Biosciences building
Assessment:
15% Participation in discussions
15% Seminar questions
25% Seminar
15% Research presentation
30% Final essay
Required textbook: Principles of Terrestrial Ecosystem Ecology. 2011. 2nd edition. Chapin, F.S. III, Matson, P.A. and Vitousek, P. Springer.
Schedule (to be updated throughout the course):
Lecture/Seminar sessions are 80 minutes; Labs up to 3 hours
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Week beginning |
Day and time |
Convenor |
Topic |
Reading |
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7 January |
Monday, 10.00 |
Paul |
Introduction to the course |
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Monday, 2.30 - LAB |
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Wednesday, 08.30 |
Paul |
The Ecosystem Concept |
Chapin et al, Chapter 1: 1-12,17-22. |
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14 January |
Monday, 10.00 |
Paul |
The State Factor Framework for understanding Terrestrial Ecosystem Ecology and Soil Development |
Chapin et al, Chapter 1: 13-17; Chapter 2: 23-26, 38-41, 50-61 |
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Monday, 2.30 - LAB |
Mike/Paul |
Research experiment set-up; Tour of Terrestrial Ecosystem Ecology lab |
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Wednesday, 08.30 |
Paul |
Soil Development continued |
Chapter 3: 63-69. |
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21 January |
Monday, 10.00 |
Paul |
Soil Development continued |
Chapter 3: 63-69. |
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Monday, 2.30 - LAB |
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Wednesday, 08.30 |
Paul |
Soil Types, Transformations, and Physical Properties |
Chapin et al, Chapter 3: 73-78, 82-85. |
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28 January |
Monday, 10.00 |
Paul |
Soil Chemical Properties |
Chapin et al, Ch. 3: 86-89; Ch. 7: 204-206; Ch. 9: 287-290; 293-296. |
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Monday, 2.30 - LAB |
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Trip to Miller Hall Geological Museum; Soil processing and root washing |
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Wednesday, 08.30 |
Paul |
The Biology of Soils I |
Chapin et al, Chapter 7: 183-190; 243-244; Chapter 9: 271-280 (overview). |
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4 February |
Monday, 10.00 |
Paul |
The Biology of Soils II |
Chapin et al, Chapter 7: 183-194; Chapter 11: 321-324; 334-335. |
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Monday, 2.30 - LAB |
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Compost investigation; Snow-soil interactions tutorial; Soil processing and root washing |
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Wednesday, 08.30 |
Paul |
Decomposition, and Plant-Soil interactions |
Chapin et al, Chapter 7: 190-204; Chapter 8: 229-233, 238-241, 253-255. |
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9 February |
Saturday> |
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Field trip: Phosphorus and organic matter recovery at the Ravensview wastewater treatment plant; Two ecosystem experimental sites near Q.U.B.S. (Stokes Atm. N deposition, Pangman Deer exclosures); Succession processes within ecosystems (Lemoine Point Conserv. Area). |
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11 February |
Monday, 10.00 |
Qian Gu |
Guest lecture – Ecological Stoichiometry: Principles and Applications in an Arctic Terrestrial Ecosystem |
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Monday, 2.30 - LAB |
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Mycorrhizal staining |
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Wednesday, 08.30 |
Leah Gotkin |
What are the most significant impacts on ecosystem services of biodiversity loss due to industrial agriculture? |
Tilman et al, 2001. Forecasting Agriculturally |
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18 February |
READING WEEK |
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READING WEEK |
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READING WEEK |
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25 February |
Monday, 10.00 |
Andreea Bosorogan and Casey Neff |
Several diverse factors make invasive species successful - To what extent are their impacts on soil microbial communities critical? |
Batten et al, 2006. Two Invasive Plants Alter Soil Microbial Community Composition in Serpentine Grasslands. Biological Invasions 8: 217–230. |
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Monday, 2.30 - LAB |
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Mycorrhizal staining |
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Wednesday, 08.30 |
Hayley Brackenridge and Cassandra Pereira |
At the soil microbial level, do individual species matter? |
Strickland et al, 2009. Testing the functional significance |
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4 March |
Monday, 10.00 |
Tharshni Jeevaratnam and Hailey Green |
What are the most interesting ways predation affects trophic dynamics? |
Monterroso et al, 2016. Disease-mediated bottom-up regulation: An emergent virus |
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Monday, 2.30 - LAB |
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Mycorrhizal staining |
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Wednesday, 08.30 |
Kristen Panetta and Lucia Park |
Species biodiversity - is it too late to prevent the sixth mass extinction? |
Ceballos et al, 2015. Accelerated modern human–induced species losses: Entering the sixth mass extinction. |
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11 March |
Monday, 10.00 |
Adrian Kuchtaruk and Adam Binhammer |
What criteria determine when an ecosystem’s resilience can’t maintain its stability in response to climate change? |
Isbell et al, 2015. Biodiversity increases the resistance of ecosystem productivity to climate extremes. Nature (526): 574-579. |
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Monday, 2.30 - LAB |
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Mycorrhizal counting |
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Wednesday, 08.30 |
Vivian Li and Natalie Janssen |
Do top-down or bottom-up controls have a more significant impact on arctic ecosystem productivity? |
Gough et al, 2012. Above- and belowground responses of arctic tundra ecosystems to altered soil nutrients and herbivory. Ecology 93(7):1683-1694. |
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18 March |
Monday, 10.00 |
Joanna Strozak and Mitchell Bierd |
To what extent do differences in dominant mycorrhizal types affect the abilities of terrestrial ecosystems to respond to environmental change? |
Phillips et al., 2013. The mycorrhizal-associated nutrient economy: a new framework for predicting carbon-nutrient couplings in temperate forests. New Phytologist 199: 41-51. |
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Monday, 2.30 - LAB |
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Mycorrhizal counting |
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Wednesday, 08.30 |
Christine Yim and Liam Joiner |
Are global planetary boundaries applicable at the ecosystem level in promoting sustainable development? Why or why not? (Essay outline hardcopies due before class) |
Carpenter et al., 2015. Allowing variance may enlarge safe operating space for exploited ecosystems. PNAS 112(46): 14384-14389 |
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25 March |
Monday, 10.00 |
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Essay preparation – no class |
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Monday, 2.30 - LAB |
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Research experiment - data finalisation |
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Wednesday, 08.30 |
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Essay preparation – no class |
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1 April |
Monday, 10.00 |
Paul |
Sustaining socio-ecological systems |
Chapin et al, Chapter 15, 423-446. |
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Monday, 2.30 - LAB |
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Research experiment study results - Discussion |
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Wednesday, 08.30 |
Paul |
Synthesis |
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To see materials from previous iterations of this course, use the drop-down menu under the 'Teaching' tab at the top of this page
Last Updated: 30 July 2019