Instructor: Dr. Sarah (Sally) Otto, Department of Zoology (otto@zoology.ubc.ca)

• Office hours: Fridays 11-12 by zoom*.

Teaching assistant: Amy Forsythe (forsythe@zoology.ubc.ca)

• Amy's office hours: Tuesdays 3:00-4:00 in room 211 Biodiversity Research Centre*.

Textbook and Lecture Notes:

• A Biologist's Guide to Mathematical Modeling in Ecology and Evolution, Otto & Day (2007) Princeton University Press -
  Available as an eBook through the UBC library, at the bookstore, or order online.
• Lecture notes, Otto (2006) - Available on the course web-site

Additional References: On reserve at Woodward

• Mathematical Models in Biology. Edelstein-Keshet (1988) [eBook]
• Population Biology. Hastings (1997) [eBook]
• Theory of Population Genetics and Evolutionary Ecology. Roughgarden (1996)
• Theoretical Evolutionary Ecology. Bulmer (1994)

Synopsis: The lectures cover basic mathematical models used in ecology and evolutionary biology. Topics include models of population growth, species interactions, demography, natural selection, and disease dynamics. The computer labs will focus on learning to use mathematical software packages that aid in the solution of models of interest in biology (BIOL 2004).

Requirements: All students will be required to do weekly readings and homework assignments (due on Thursdays by class). In addition, there will be weekly computer labs, where you will learn to use the software package Maxima to help analyse models.

Course grades will depend on homework (20%), class quizzes (10%), computer lab assignments/participation (10%), midterm (20%) [Thursday, October 16], course project (15%) [preliminary question and equations or diagram due Thursday November 27 (required for credit on final project), final project due Thursday December 4 (15%)], and the final (25%).

For a sense of the final project, see assignment from a previous year and a great example of student project.

Homework policy: Assignments are due in class on Thursdays (please upload on Canvas if possible or submit in person by the start of class). Late assignments will be marked down 10% per day late, up to five days late. Assignments handed in after this point will be corrected but will not receive credit.

All assignments (except #2) must be finished and submitted individually. That said, you may work on the homework with other BIOL301 students, if that helps you learn and understand the material better. Your submitted work must, however, reflect your own understanding and conclusions and should not be written with others. Your final project must be entirely your own.

Similarly, use of artificial intelligence (AI) tools, such as ChatGPT, Claude, Copilot, DeepL, Gemini, Google Translate, Grammarly, Llama, etc., is allowed only to the extent that it aids your learning and understanding. Any assignment that uses AI must cite the tool using APA guidelines and specify exactly how AI was used, including the search term, the chat history link (if available), and how the results were used. In cases where a chat history is not available, please save a copy of the chat to your computer in case we ask for more details. Again, your submitted work must reflect your own understanding and conclusions. Getting AI help to learn how to improve your grammar or to debug code or to check an answer is appropriate in this course (if cited); having AI solve problems for you or suggest ideas for a course project would not be acceptable as then your submitted work cannot be your own. If in doubt, please ask!

Communications: Homework assignments and announcements will occur on Canvas. Although we cannot guarantee the quality of the sound and images, lectures will be recorded by zoom (link through Canvas). Student Q&A will occur via Piazza. We really encourage students to help each other on Piazza and will reward particularly helpful insights and answers with extra credit (0.1% added to the final grade for each endorsed comment, for a maximum of 2.5% total).

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