Course description: Applied Population Ecology explores common theories in population ecology and the mathematical models underlying them. This course focuses on two complimentary objectives: (1) understanding key theories in population ecology, especially those related to the growth and regulation of animal and plant populations, demography and dynamics of structured populations, and species interactions; and (2) applying population ecology principles to conservation and management challenges. Lectures focus on understanding theories and their mathematical models, while exercises emphasize fitting models to data and interpreting results.
AEC 501 – Ornithology
Instructor(s): Nathan Hostetter, co-taught with Ted Simons
Offered: Spring 2022
Course description: Graduate-level biology of birds, including evolution, functional morphology, physiology, ecology and behavior. Field and museum laboratories emphasize particular aspects of morphology, ecology and behavior, as well as taxonomy and identification. One coastal weekend field trip required.
FW 453/553 – Principles of Wildlife Science
Instructor: Krishna Pacifici
Offered: Spring semesters
Course description: The purpose of this course is to expose you to the modern study of wildlife population ecology, a dance at the interface of reliable field work and the use of mathematical and statistical tools. Students will learn how to collect the data necessary to study wildlife populations, and how to assess and estimate the factors that affect population growth and interactions with other species. We will confront the complexity of interactions in the real world, emphasizing the feedback between biological processes but acknowledging the role of social/political constraints. To develop your skills and competency, the course will include student discussions, research proposals, technical presentations, problem sets, exams, and quizzes.
FW 595 – Applied Hierarchical Modeling in Ecology
Instructor: Krishna Pacifici
Offered: Fall semesters, odd years
Course description: This course will focus on developing, analyzing and interpreting hierarchical models in fisheries, wildlife ecology, conservation biology and applied ecology. The course is structured around the basic types of data and questions that arise in the general field of ecology. We will focus on the basics of generalized linear modeling with Bayesian inference and model building, evaluation and interpretation. Examples will include various forms of abundance, occupancy, and animal movement models and will emphasize the spatial, temporal, and community level aspects of the analysis. Examples will be taken from a variety of different taxa and ecological systems.
FW 595 – Graduate Seminar with focus on Quantitative Methods
Instructor: Krishna Pacifici
Offered: Fall semesters, even years
Course description: I teach a graduate seminar every fall semester of even years that focuses on quantitative methods and analysis. The topic is chosen to support the current graduate students in Fisheries, Wildlife, and Conservation Biology. Past courses include Decision Analysis, Species Distribution Models, Resource Selection Functions, Estimating climate effects on animal populations, and Foundations of Statistical Ecology. Courses are a combination of readings, discussion, and hands on labs focused on analysis and coding.
Workshops
Our team has led half-day to multi-day workshops on quantitative ecology topics, including occupancy, abundance estimation, mark-recapture, hierarchical modeling, data integration, and decision analysis.
Workshops are generally aligned with on-going projects and cooperator needs, but please contact us if there is a specific topic of interest.
Quantitative Ecology Lab - NCSU 