Learning outcomes

Understand the basic principles of stability analysis of populations and communities;
Apply the basic techniques to quantify the stability of populations and communities;
Use the acquired skills to, as part of a team, solve a problem offered by the teachers during the course.
Read, digest, and present scientific documents on the topic of the course;
Soft skills: working in groups, project management; communication in French and English.

Goals

Familiarise the student with the basic principles of stability analysis of populations and communities;
Learn the students to apply techniques to quantify stability;
Let the student apply these techniques as part of a team to solve a problem about ecosystem perturbations.

Content

First, the students are invited to read and study the basic principles of stability analysis. Afterwards, a session is planned where the teachers address the questions from the students on the read material, and evaluate to what extent the material has been well understood. Afterwards, the students are introduced to a problem and are given time to solve this problem as part of a team of fellow students. Meetings are planned between the students and the staff during which potential issues hampering progress on solving the problems are discussed.

Table of contents

Introduction: definitions, motivation of the course
Self-study of the topic by the students;
Introduction to the problem;
Q&A sessions and progress meetings.

Exercices

Application of several techniques to quantify stability. The students will be given one or more problems on the broad topic of stability in populations/communities. They will apply the techniques seen in the theoretical course to solve this/these problem(s).
Sessions of computational exercises: during these sessions the students will work on their projects

Assessment method

Continuous evaluation: Students will be graded on:
1/their work during the module (feedback on intermediate results will be given) (15%);
2/their active participation to the course (15%);
3/the final group report (55%);
4/their degree of professionalism (respecting deadlines, polite and open communication, constructive attitude) (15%)
The soft skills will be evaluated when evaluating these 4 aspects 

Sources, references and any support material

Various scientific papers .
Powerpoint slides
Models will also be made available to the students, these are coded in R.
Otto and Day. A Biologist's Guide to Mathematical Modeling in Ecology and Evolution. Princeton, 2007.
All these materials can be found on WebCampus

Language of instruction

French