The development of theory plays an important role in advancing ecology as a scientific field. This three-unit course is for students at the graduate or advanced undergraduate level. The course will cover classic theoretical topics in ecology, starting from single-species dynamics and gradually build up to multispecies models. The course will primarily focus on population and community ecology, but we will also briefly discuss models in epidemiology and ecosystem ecology. Emphasis will be on theoretical concepts and corresponding mathematical approaches.

This course is designed as a two-hour lecture (written on black/white board) followed by a one-hour hands-on practice module. In the lecture, we will analyze dynamical models and discuss their theoretical implications.. In the hands-on practice section, we will use a combination of analytical problem sets, interactive applications, and numerical simulations to gain a general understanding of the dynamics and behavior of different models.