Conservation Biology with RAMAS EcoLab

by Susanne M. Shultz, Amy E. Dunham, Karen V. Root, Sheryl L. Soucy, Steven D. Carroll, and Lev R. Ginzburg

        This set of 14 labs is designed as a teaching tool for introductory undergraduate or high school environmental or ecological laboratory courses. The lab manual contains background information and exercises and suggestions for additional work. An instructor's supplement (available to adopters) includes suggestions for teaching the material, additional reference material, and answers to the questions and exercises.

        Students are introduced to a number of important topics that are relevant to environmental studies: biodiversity; population growth; population parameters (demography); density dependence; extinction; conservation of threatened and endangered species; sustainable harvesting; management of wildlife; reintroduction of endangered species; island biogeography; metapopulation biology; human population growth and consumption; and conservation decision-making.

        Each lab provides background material emphasizing the important concepts, a series of exercises using data from actual studies of endangered and threatened species, and questions. The manual also provides clear step-by-step instructions on the use of RAMAS® EcoLab 2.0 and the provided sample files. Conservation Biology with RAMAS EcoLab allows students to explore the latest concepts in conservation and, moreover, to utilize the same technology that professionals in the field use to tackle these issues.

        Conservation Biology with RAMAS EcoLab can be used independently as the basis of a laboratory course, or as a complement to a lecture course based on any of the texts in the table below.

Susanne M. Shultz is in the Department of Ecology and Evolution at Stony Brook University. Her work focuses on the interactions between the crowned hawk-eagle (Stephanoaetus coronatus) and its prey in the Tai Forest, Ivory Coast. She hopes to be able to relate the composition of the prey community to the eagle's diet.

Amy E. Dunham is in the Department of Ecology and Evolution at Stony Brook University. She is a biologist with strong interests in behavioral ecology and conservation. She is presently involved in field research in the tropical dry forests of Madagascar, where she is examining questions of territoriality, foraging ecology, and the effects of selective logging on a threatened species of mongoose.

Karen V. Root received her Ph.D. in Ecology and Population Biology from the Florida Institute of Technology (Melbourne, Florida) and is currently a Conservation Ecologist with Applied Biomathematics. Her research and education have been primarily focused on the behavioral ecology of mammals, population biology of birds, and the conservation of endangered and threatened species.

Sheryl L. Soucy is in the Department of Ecology and Evolution at Stony Brook University. While her research interests include the genetical theory of species invasions and biological conservation, her primary research is on the population genetics and evolutionary history of social insects.

Steven D. Carroll is in the Department of Ecology and Evolution at Stony Brook University. A mathematical biologist working in theoretical ecology, he is currently interested in models of population dynamics.

Lev R. Ginzburg is a Professor in the Department of Ecology and Evolution at Stony Brook University. Dr. Ginzburg has authored, coauthored, or edited four books and over one hundred articles in theoretical ecology and evolution. He is a theoretical ecologist primarily interested in population dynamics and cycling, maternal effects, and risk analysis.

• Conservation Biology text
  in PDF format
• RAMAS^® EcoLab
  for Windows-based computers

• Instructor's Resource CD
• License for 25 users

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