Community ecology is a sub-field of biological science that encompasses a huge variety of conceptual frameworks, each focusing on different interactions and scales. This three-unit course will cover both classic and contemporary frameworks in the field of community ecology. The course will cover species coexistence within horizontal communities, multi-trophic interactions, spatial-temporal processes maintaining biodiversity, and applications of community ecology.

The course is a hybrid of lectures and discussions. For those weeks assigned for lecture, we will combine lecture (i.e., introducing the origin, development, and key conceptual takeaways of each topic) and demonstration of online simulation tools. For those weeks assigned for discussion, students will lead a discussion on classic and related contemporary papers on topics taught in previous lectures.

The discussion will be structured as follows:

Before class
1. Everyone will read the assigned papers and submit their answers to the following questions in NTU COOL (complete one day before class)
a. Which paragraph do you find most interesting or illuminating?
b. Which paragraph do you find most confusing or unclear?
c. What open-ended question relating to the papers would you pose to the class for discussion to identify a new research direction?

2. Discussion leaders
a. Prepare a 20-min presentation about the historical context and contemporary relevance of the papers
b. Make 3 discussion questions based on the answers submitted by everyone

In the class
30 min - Presentation by discussion leader
20 min - Follow up by Po-Ju and Hsi-Cheng
40 min - Q&A for clarification
30 min - Group discussion on the 3 question from the discussion leader
30 min - Class discussion led by the discussion leader