Population Biology: Program Courses and Seminars
Population Biology 200A, "Principles of Population Biology"
5 units - Offered Fall Quarter each year
Prerequisites: concurrent enrollment in PBG 231 and consent of instructor (see note below).
Principles of single-species ecology and evolution. Topics include ecology of individuals, population growth models, structured populations, life history strategies, stochastic populations, basic population genetics theory, deleterious alleles in natural populations, and molecular population genetics.
Population Biology 200B, "Principles of Population Biology"
6 units - Offered Winter Quarter each year
Prerequisites: PBG 200A, PBG 231, and consent of instructor (see note below).
Principles of multi-species communities. Topics include competition, mutualism, metapopulations, food webs and trophic cascades, interactions between simple ecologic communities, island biogeography, succession, and large-scale patterns.
Population Biology 200C, "Principles of Population Biology"
6 units - Offered Spring Quarter each year
Prerequisites: PBG 200B and consent of instructor (see note below).
Principles of microevolution and macroevolution. Topics include evolutionary quantitative genetics, analysis of hybrid zones, speciation, statistical phylogenetics and statistical phylogenetic methods.
Special Note Regarding PBG 200ABC:
PBG 200, also known as "the core", represents the foundation of our curriculum for Population Biology students. The core is comprised of three parts: PBG 200A (Fall Quarter), PBG 200B (Winter Quarter), and PBG 200C (Spring Quarter).
Non-Population Biology students interested in taking the Core:
Non-Population Biology students interested in taking the Core are required to petition for entry in late Spring or early Summer, and no later than August 1 for the upcoming academic year. For information and criteria on how to petition for entry into our Core (PBG 200 A, B and C), please contact Sherri Mann, Graduate Coordinator, smmann@ucdavis.edu.
Please Note: The Core is a three-part course. Any student must take PBG 200A. They then could take PBG 200B and PBG 200C, just PBG 200B, just PBG 200C, or neither. A student taking PBG 200C without PBG 200B should be aware that they may need to be responsible for some of the material in PBG 200B and should consult with the PBG 200C instructors.
Population Biology 207 (cross-listed as ECL 207), "Plant Population Biology," Jennifer Gremer
4 units - Generally offered Winter Quarter in alternate years (Winter 2017 will be next offering)
Prerequisites: advanced undergraduate ecology course (e.g., ESP 100, EVE 101, ENT 104, PLB 117) and advanced undergraduate course in genetics and/or evolution (e.g., BIS 101, EVE 100)
Introduction to theoretical and empirical research in plant population biology. Emphasis placed on linking ecological and genetic approaches to plant population biology.
Population Biology 212, "Topics in Invertebrate Evolution," Richard Grosberg and Jay Stachowicz
2 units - Not currentlly scheduled to be offered.
Prerequisites: EVE 112 and EVE 112L; courses in evolutionary biology, systematics, and ecology highly recommended
S/U grading only
Advanced seminar that critically examines problems relevant to evolutionary patterns among the invertebrates. May be repeated for credit when topic differs.
Population Biology 225 (cross-listed as ECL 225 and ENT 225), "Terrestrial Field Ecology," Richard Karban
4 units - Offered Spring Quarter each year
Prerequisites: introductory ecology and introductory statistics, or consent of instructor
A field course conducted over spring break and four weekends at Bodega Bay, emphasizing student projects. Ecological hypothesis testing, data gathering, analysis, and written and oral presentation of results will be stressed.
Population Biology 231 (cross-listed as ECL 231), "Mathematical Methods in Population Biology," Sebastian Schreiber (previously Alan Hastings)
3 units - Offered Fall Quarter each year
Prerequisite: MAT 16C or 21 C or equivalent
Mathematical methods used in population biology. Linear and nonlinear difference equation and differential equation models are studied, using stability analysis and qualitative methods. Partial differential equation models are introduced. Applications to population biology models are stressed.
Population Biology 233 (cross-listed as ECL 233), "Computational Methods in Population Biology," Marissa Baskett and Sebastian Schreiber
4 units - Offered Winter Quarter in alternate years
Prerequisite: Advanced undergraduate ecology course (e.g., ESP 100, EVE 101, ENT 104, PLB 117) and advanced undergraduate course in genetics and/or evolution (e.g., BIS 101, EVE 100)
Introduction to theoretical and empirical research in plant population biology. Emphasis placed on linking ecological and genetic approaches to plant population biology.
Population Biology 270, "Research Conference in Evolutionary Biology," Drs. Coop, Eisen, Moore, Ramirez, Schmitt, Schreiber, and Turelli
1 unit - Generally offered each quarter each year
Prerequisite: consent of instructor
S/U grading only
Critical presentation and evaluation of current literature and ongoing research in evolutionary biology.
Population Biology 271, (cross-listed as ECL 271), " Research Conference in Ecology," Thomas Schoener and Sebastian Schreiber
1 unit - Offered Fall and Winter quarters each year (and occasionally Spring Quarter)
Prerequisite: consent of instructor
S/U grading only
Critical presentation and evaluation of current literature and ongoing research in ecology. Requirements include active participation in weekly discussions and the presentation of a paper or chapter once per quarter. May be repeated for credit.
Population Biology 290, "Seminar" (The Center for Population Biology Tuesday Seminar Series)
1 unit - Offered each quarter each year
S/U grading only
The Tuesday seminar series presented by visiting lecturers, UC Davis graduate students, and faculty.
Population Biology 290C "Research Conference in Population Biology"
1 unit - Available each quarter each year
Prerequisites: concurrent enrollment in PBG 299 and consent of instructor
S/U grading only
Presentation and discussion of faculty and graduate student research in population biology.
Population Biology 292 (cross-listed as ECL 296), "Topics in Ecology & Evolution" (The Eco Evo Thursday Seminar Series)
1 unit - Offered each quarter each year
S/U grading only
The Thursday seminar series presented by visiting lecturers, UC Davis faculty, and graduate students.
Population Biology 296, "Seminar in Geographical Ecology," Arthur Shapiro
2 units - Offered Spring Quarter each year
Prerequisites: EVE 100 or EVE 101 or consent of instructor
S/U grading only
Recent developments in theoretical and experimental biogeography, historical biogeography and related themes in systematics, the biology of colonizing species, and related topics.
Population Biology 298, "Group Study"
1-5 units (variable unit) - Available each quarter each year
Prerequisite: consent of instructor
S/U grading only
A variety of informal seminars use this course number, including the past Monte Carlo seminars.
Population Biology 299, "Research"
1-12 units (variable unit) - Available each quarter each year
Prerequisites: concurrent enrollment in PBG 290C and consent of instructor
S/U grading only
Conducting research in population biology.
UC Davis General Catalog:
Link here to catalog, program and course descriptions, etc.: https://ucdavis.pubs.curricunet.com/Catalog
Other Courses of Interest:
Environmental Science and Policy
Integrated Genetics and Genomics Graduate Group
Other Campus Seminars of Interest:
Storer Lectureship in the Life Sciences Series
For other seminars across campus, please visit the UC Davis Calendar of Events, and/or related departments seminar listings (i.e., Agriculture and Resource Economics, Animal Behavior, Ecology, Entomology, Genetics, Genome Center, Horticulture and Agronomy, Microbiology, Plant Biology...).