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Dear undergraduate and graduate students, and faculty who advise them -- Please see below and the attached pdf for information about a course of possible interest. EEB 461/504 Invasion Biology, Spring 2017 Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, University of Tennessee, Knoxville Instructors: Dr. Daniel Simberloff ([log in to unmask]<mailto:[log in to unmask]>) and Dr. Christy Leppanen ([log in to unmask]<mailto:[log in to unmask]>) Sec 001 (EEB 461) or Sec 003 (EEB 504) 3:40 to 4:55 pm, Tuesday and Thursday, Dabney-Buehler Hall 488 3 credit hours Course Description: In this course, students will study the history, biology, and management of biological invasions. Students will learn about the geography and scale of invasions, ecological effects, impacts to humans, and the evolution of introduced and native species. Differences between "introduced" and "invasive" species will receive particular attention and will inform discussions about prevention, regulation, detection, management, and eradication. Each concept will include comprehensive consideration of interesting case studies. Students will be challenged to apply this knowledge in a variety of scenarios (e.g., research, management, policy making, regulatory compliance) and fields (i.e., education, conservation, resource management, law, real estate development, urban planning). The course will conclude with discussion of controversies surrounding biological invasions and prospects for the future of invasions, considering, e.g., biotic homogenization, animal rights, human activity, climate change, and management with new technologies. Why study invasion biology? Thousands of species of plants, animals, fungi, and microbes have been transported by humans to new locations. Without human assistance, species have always managed to spread, but much less often, much more slowly, and not nearly so far. This geographic rearrangement of the earth's biota is one of the great global changes now underway. Although many introduced species fail to establish populations or remain restricted to the immediate vicinity of the new sites they land in, others establish populations and invade new habitats, spreading widely and sometimes well beyond the initial point of introduction. Many invasions have such idiosyncratic, bizarre effects that they cannot fail to get our attention simply as fascinating tales of natural history. For example, who would have thought that... * Introducing kokanee salmon to Flathead Lake, Montana, and many years later, opossum shrimp to three nearby lakes would ultimately have led to population crashes of grizzly bears and bald eagles through a complicated chain reaction? * Introducing myxoma virus to Great Britain to control introduced rabbit populations would have led to the extinction of the large blue butterfly there? * Introducing a particular grass species would lead to hybridization with a native congener, subsequent polyploidization, and the origin of a new vigorous invasive species that would change entire intertidal systems? * Competition for food with an Asian mosquito introduced to east Tennessee would render a native mosquito a more competent vector of La Crosse encephalitis? Teasing apart such intriguing causal chains is a scientific accomplishment of the first order. The variety and idiosyncrasy of effects challenges biologists to produce general laws or rules to be able to explain why some introductions have no major impacts, yet others lead to huge invasions. Being able to predict which species will fall in the latter category if introduced, and which in the former, is the elusive holy grail of invasion biology. Sally P. Horn, Professor Department of Geography 304 Burchfiel Geography Building 1000 Phillip Fulmer Way The University of Tennessee Knoxville, TN 37996-0925 U.S.A. phone: (865) 974-6030 fax: (865) 974-6025 e-mail: [log in to unmask] http://geography.utk.edu/about-us/faculty/dr-sally-horn/ -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- To review the archives of CLUBGGY or Join/Leave the list go to: http://listserv.utk.edu/archives/clubggy.html