Instructor: Dr. Arne Mooers (amooers@sfu.ca)
Office: B8242
Phone: 778-782-3979
Office Hours: Wednesdays 1330-1500

Evolution 300 (with a C+), stats 201 or equivalent, or permission of the instructor. Enrollment limited.

The web site will include pdfs of most of the lectures, information on what's going on, and pdfs or refs for readings and workshops. The LEMUR LAB is here The lab this year will be done in the "R" statistical computing language. If you want to dive in, have a look and (if you have a computer) download it (it is free and open source).

Biodiversity is grist for many mills: even politicians occasionally pay lipservice to the idea that 'biological diversity' is important. However, what is it, how do we study it, and what do our studies tell us about it? We'll explore three areas:

1. The production of the various bits biodiversity
   (Species, speciation, taxonomy and inferring relationships, major patterns of relationship);
   
2. The theories behind the major patterns of biodiversity
   (Why we think we find it where we find it, and what it does there);
3. Society and biodiversity
   (What values do we give it, and what are the practical ramifications of these values).

I hope we can find some guest speakers for the latter part of the course, including practitioners in the field of biodiversity protection. The course is a 'w' course, and so will consider both technical and rhetorical aspects. As an upper-level course, the emphasis is on critical thinking and synthesis. If you have done well so far and you work hard, you'll do well in this course too.

A first useful resource is: The Encyclopedia of Biodiversity.
Here are two reviews you should read and know by the third quiz:
Purvis_Hector_Nature_2000.pdf
Cardinale_etal_Nature_2012.pdf
This is the first chapter in Steve Heard's new book on writing, about where scientific writing came from:
Heard_chapter_1
In addition, I will post readings associated with each topic (roughly each week), and of course, there is your own critique paper. More on that soon, right here.

In terms of workload, there is the following: one computer lab - 10%; one presentation - 20%; 4 quizes (every two weeks) - 20%; Economist article - 10%; Final critique - 40%