202330 Spezialmodul "Modeling in Evolutionary Ecology" (Ü+Pr) (SoSe 2025)

Students will get familiar with key concepts in evolutionary ecology and acquire a working knowledge of various modeling approaches used in this research area and beyond (e.g. population models, individual-based models, stochastic models). They will learn to implement such models in the programming language R, and apply these new skills immediately to a small individual research project. Students will practice presenting their research effectively both orally and in writing and engage in discussion and peer-to-peer feedback on presentations and reports. The class will be held in English and we will be reading current primary literature. The students will thus improve their scientific English and general scientific communication skills.

In this module, we will explore current topics at the interface between ecology and evolutionary biology, in particular the role of eco-evolutionary feedbacks for species coexistence, maintenance of genetic variation, and conservation biology. We will study key concepts from population ecology and population genetics required to understand the theory of eco-evolutionary interactions. We will get to know state-of-the-art modeling approaches that are used in evolutionary ecology but also applicable more broadly. Work on individual research projects, from design to presentation, will be a key component of this class.

Requirements for participation, required level

Notwendige Voraussetzungen: 20-AM6 oder 20-AM6_a Ökologie

Empohlene Vorkenntnisse: Prior experience with the programming language R is helpful, but not required.