Range and Wildlife Sciences (RWSC)

Designed for thesis option students. The course requires completion of thesis research. Prerequisite: departmental approval. May be repeated for maximum of 6 semester hours.

This course is designed to familiarize students with the basic principles of data management and visualization and provide students with the skills needed to appropriately enter, manage and manipulate scientific data in Excel, Access (Included SQL) and Program R.

Material offered will be determined by the needs of the students. Laboratory and lecture will vary according to the subject needs. May be repeated under a different topic.

This course is specifically designed for Plan I students. Required during the research, data analysis, and initial writing stage for students who receive a stipend and need to maintain full-time status. Course may be repeated up to 15 times.

All ecological interactions occur in space within a defined domain. Spatial ecology focuses on the study and modeling of the role(s) of space on ecological processes (e.g. population dynamics, species interactions, dispersal) that in turn affects ecological patterns. Course material will include the conceptual underpinning for models used by ecologist to link patterns to processes related to organism­-environment relationships, and fundamental species interactions such as competition, and predation. The course will draw from population ecology, behavioral ecology, and landscape ecology. Students will gain a familiarity with common models used in spatial ecology.