BIOGEOGRAPHY                                                                                                

Geography 313

 

Instructor: Dr. Keith Hadley                                    

Office: CH 424M                                                

Office Hours: MWF 2-3 or by appointment

Phone: 725-3078  

E-mail: hadleyk@pdx.edu    (Subject: Geog313)

Web Site:

 

 

COURSE OBJECTIVE: This course provides an introduction to biogeography, the study of the distributions of organisms.  Biogeography is a broad subject which overlaps several academic disciplines including geography, biology, and geology.  It is often subdivided on the basis of organisms studied, regions, or the methods of scientific inquiry.  This course combines historical and ecological perspectives in analyzing plant and animal distributions.  Its goal is to foster student understanding of local, regional, and global biogeographic patterns and their underlying processes.  Human impacts on biotic distributions will also be discussed.                                

 

REQUIRED TEXT:                                                 

 

            Biogeography.  Brown, J.H. and Lomolino, M.V. 1998.  Second Edition.  Sinauer           Associates, Inc.  Sunderland, Massachusetts.

                       

GRADING:                                                        

 

            Final grades will be based on the following:

                             

       1.  Class participation 5%

       2.  Mid-Term Exams 45%                                  

       3.  Final Exam 30%                         

       4.  Book Review 20%

                                 

            Exams will consist of true/false, multiple guess, matching, definitions, fill-in-the-blank, short answer, short and long essay questions.  Final grades for the course will be curved.  Students who feel they have a learning disability that may affect their performance are encouraged to meet with me as soon as possible so that accommodations can be made.                 

 

            The following is a course outline covering the major lecture topics and reading assignments.  This is a tentative schedule which may be adjusted as the term progresses.  In addition to textbook assignments, students will be responsible for information included in the reserved reading, on course handouts, and in class videos.  Overhead masters referred to during lecture are available in the Geography Department Office.   

 

 

TENTATIVE CLASS SCHEDULE
TOPIC
DESCRIPTION
READINGS
1 Nature and History of Biogeography Chapters 1 and 2
2 Patterns of Distributions: Environmental and Historical Factors
Chapter 3
3

Patterns of Distribution: Species, Communities,
and Biomes Reserved Reading

Chapters 4 and 5
     
Exam 1
     
4 Paleo-Biogeography Chapter 6
5 Quaternary Biogeography Chapter 7
6 Patterns and Processes Underlying Biogeographic Distributions
Chapters 8, 9, and 10
     
Exam 2
     
7 Biodiversity Chapters 15 and 16
8 Island Biogeography Chapters 13 and 14
     
FINAL EXAM

 

                                               

 

 

                                         Book Review Titles

 

Arno, S.F. 1984.  Timberline: Mountain and Arctic Forest Frontiers.  The Mountaineers, Seattle, WA.

       

Boyd, R. (Ed.). 1999.  Indians, Fire and the Land in the Pacific Northwest.  OSU Press, Corvallis, OR.

 

Darwin, C.  1859.  The Origin of Species.  (Reprint edition: Avenel Books, N.Y. 1979).

 

Diamond, J.  1999.  Guns, Germs, and Steel: The Fates of Human Societies.  W.W. Norton and Company, N.Y.

 

Flannery, T.  2001.  Eternal Frontier: An Ecological History of North America and Its Peoples.

      Atlantic Monthly Press, N.Y.

 

Harris, L. D. 1984.  The Fragmented Forest. University of Chicago Press, Chicago, IL.

 

Kricher, J.C. 1997.  A Neotropical Companion: An Introduction to the Animals, Plants, and

      Ecosystems of the New World Tropics.  Princeton University Press, Princeton, N.J.

 

MacArthur, R.H. 1972.  Geographical Ecology.  Princeton University Press, Princeton, N.J.

 

MacArthur, R.H. and Wilson, E.O. 1967.  The Theory of Island Biogeography. 
Monographs in Population Biology No. 1.  Princeton University Press, Princeton, N.J.

 

Pielou, E.C. 1991.  After the Ice Age: The Return of Life to the Glaciated North America. 
University of Chicago Press, Chicago, IL.

 

Quammen, D. 1996.  The Song of the Dodo.  Touchstone, N.Y.

 

Thoreau, H.D. 1993.  Faith in a Seed.  Island Press, Washington D.C.

 

Vale, T.R. 1982.  Plants and People: Vegetation Change in North America.  Resource

      Publications in Geography Series.  Association of American Geographers, Washington D.C.

 

Wallace, A.R. 1881.  Island Life.  (Reprint edition: Prometheus Books (Great Minds Series), N.Y. 1997).

 

Wiener, J. 1996.  The Beak of the Finch: A Story of Evolution in our Time.  Vintage Press, N.Y.

 

Williams, M. 1989.  Americans and Their Forests: A Historical Geography.  Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, MA.

 

Wilson, E.O.  1992.  The Diversity of Life.  W.W. Norton and Company, N.Y.