Teaching

I (Rachel) teach three primary courses at UBC: BIOL488B (A Beginner's Introduction to Theoretical Ecology), BIOL230 (Fundamentals of Ecology), and BIOL548O (Dealing with Data, which runs as a hands-on workshop). Samples of course materials can be found in the tabs below. I love teaching these courses, and have found inspiration for many research projects has come from ironing out the nitty-gritty details of ecological concepts for students, and in doing so identifying limits to our understanding of those concepts and how they fit together.

If interested in using content from these slides please let me know (rgermain [at] zoology.ubc.ca) to help me track impact. 
 

Scroll to end of Fundamentals of Ecology tab for ecology memes.

  • Fundamentals of Ecology (BIOL230)
  • Demystifying Theoretical Ecology (BIOL488A)
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Description: Ecology as a discipline is famously difficult to coherently organize, which also makes it a difficult subject to teach. The course is anchored by cultivating an understanding of how 5 core ecological processes (abiotic sorting, biotic interactions, dispersal, demographic stochasticity, and evolution) each affect individual fitness, thus scaling up to other levels (populations → communities → ecosystems → biosphere). In the process, we also teach students about the scientific method, connecting concepts to other fields, e.g., economics, human heath, given the breadth of interests of students taking this course. Many concepts are introduced to students using memorable charismatic creatures/stories, such as the Pallas cat, the blob fish, the house hippo, Pablo Escobar's hippos, Looney Tunes coyote/roadrunner, Borneo's parachuting cats, Rachel's cannibalistic gerbils, or Finding Nemo. Delivery is a mix of traditional lecturing with lots of interactive back and forth between the instructor and students. I (Rachel) have been teaching and developing this course since 2019; there are 26 lectures total. 

Lecture samples - note: some slide formatting is slightly distorted when embedded on a website

Lecture 1.1: An introduction to ecology. 

Main activity: having students reflect on what they think ecology is and why it is important (usually we get answers like "gardening"), using a case study to make the point that poor ecological understanding can have dire consequences for humanity. 
Lecture 1.2: Demystifying 'fitness'
 Lecture 2.1: Introducing 3/5 ecological processes 

Concepts covered: the fundamental niche, realized niche, and dispersal (including dispersal kernels! Which I was very excited to introduce to an introductory ecology class) 

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. Lecture 2.2: Introducing 2/5 ecological processes 

Concepts covered: demographic stochasticity and and evolution​
Lecture 3.1: Introduction to population modeling (exponential growth)
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Lecture 3.2: Density dependent models

Note: In this lecture I traumatize students with a disturbing personal story from my childhood.

Other concepts: stable/unstable equilibria, assumptions in models
Lecture 4.1: Life history theory

Concepts: r/K selection, Allee effects
Lecture 4.2: the Lotka-Volterra competition model

Note: This lecture went through many, many iterations before I landed on this version, which I feel walks through the model in a way most students can follow.
Lecture 5.1: Midterm review, delivered as pub-style trivia (with music)

Other highlights

Lotka-Volterra simulation

A student in this class made a Desmos app to simulate the Lotka-Volterra competition model, just for fun/studying purposes. It took them 1-2 hours to make. Very impressive! They've allowed me to share it, so here it is. Shoutout to Nico! 

Weblink
Meme contest

If I'm being so for real, the best part of this class is the memes. We have at least one meme competition per semester. Here are a few of my all time favorites. 

Scroll through slideshow to see all. 
Description: A ‘theory’ is an idea of how the natural world works. In order to test a theory, one must understand it, at least well enough to generate reasonable hypotheses, predictions, and experiments that meet critical assumptions. However, many theories in ecology are represented using math, which can create a barrier for scientists with less mathematical training, as is commonly the case in many biology programs. This course is meant to introduce students to theoretical ecology using an accessible approach. In this course we begin by discussing different goals and approaches to theory and the different ways in which theory is used in science. We then work through examples of specific theories in ecology to build skills and comfort working through equations and deciphering their biological meaning. This course involves a mix of lecturing, discussion, and in-class activities (laptop required), with a heavy focus on Ted Case's "Illustrated Guide to Theoretical Ecology". Seven of the classes are instructor or student led paper discussions, which are meant to mirror a lab meeting - these classes include: a presentation to introduce the paper, either a jeopardy or Kahoot quiz, and ~40 minutes of discussion. The final project is to write a journal-style article demystifying a theory of the student's choice.

Examples of final projects by past students (shared with permission):

✨ Unraveling the Gompertz-Makeham Equation: A Unified Framework for Understanding Age-Related and Background Mortality Dynamics
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Lecture samples

Lecture 1.2: Motivation for this course
Lecture 2.1: Hypothesis testing

Main idea here: I have always found the way we teach hypotheses/predictions to undergrads very confusing, and this is my attempt to streamline.
Lecture 2.2: A history of math

Main idea: To highlight that math itself is something that we have invented/discovered both to solve problems and out of divine interest, so we don't take it for granted.
Lecture 7.1: Optimal foraging

Key concepts: Holling's disc, functional response types, marginal value theorem 

Lots of little animations in here that are lost when converted to a pdf :(

Class activity: I time students as they attempt to open a tangerine vs a pomelo (which they can then eat as a snack)

For lecture 7.2 we read and discuss Charnov 1976 which is a primary source used in Chapter 11 of the Case 2000
Lecture 7.2: Charnov 1976

Purpose of lecture: To give students a demo of what I expect for their own presentations that will precede a discussion of a specific theoretical paper. Note rubric points are mentioned at the bottom of each slide.
Lecture 8.1: Metapopulations
Lecture 9.1: Senescence

This usually runs the week of Hallowe'en so I've added some spooky elements.
Lecture 10.1: Maximum sustainable yields

Covers ideas such as overharvesting and alternative stable states.

Student presentations (shared with permission)

Rosenzweig & MacArthur 1963