Introduction to Ecology
Biologie pour non biologistes
2025-2026 - Semestre 1
UNBIO1-103 | Introduction à l’Ecologie
0 ECTS
— Emploi du temps 2025-2026 et syllabus —
Responsables : Coordinator : Régis Ferrière
Mots clés : Keywords
Populations. Communities. Ecosystems. Environment. Species interactions. Ecological niche. Adaptation. Biodiversity. Ecological function.
Prérequis pour le cours : Prerequisites for the course :
This introductory course has no prerequisite.
Objectif et description du cours : Course objectives and description :
In this crash course (in English) I will introduce the basic notions of ecology.
Around the general concept of biodiversity, students will learn the principles of population dynamics, how to define an ecological community, what an ecosystem is, and examples of mechanisms that drive ecosystem function and the response of ecological systems to global environmental change.
This compact introductory course is intended to prepare the students to attend the ENS L3 course Ecologie & Biodiversité. The students will
• Acquire basic concepts, including : individual, population, community, ecosystem, ecological network, ecological function, environment, biogeochemical cycle.
• Apply basic concepts to describe the structure of real ecological systems (in class we will take the example of a coral reef ecosystem).
• Formulate simple research questions using basing concepts applied to real ecosystems.
• Learn about three main approaches to study ecological systems (long-term monitoring, experiments, mathematical and computational modeling).
• Read short articles from current ecological research literature.
Évaluation : Assessment / evaluation :
This course is not for credit ; there is no exam.
Support de cours / Course material (hand-outs, online presentation available, …) :
The supporting material (presentations, articles discussed in class) will be made available to the students.
Lectures suggérées : Suggested readings in relationship with the module content (textbook chapters, reviews, articles) :
No textbook is assigned but the following references are recommended to support and go beyond the material covered in class.
Barbault, R. (2008) Ecologie Générale. 6ème édition. Dunod, Paris.
Gotelli, N.J. (2008) A Primer Of Ecology. 4th edition. Sinauer Assoc.
Levin, S.A. ed. (2012) The Princeton Guide To Ecology. Princeton Univ. Press.
Ricklefs R., Relyea, R. (2014) Ecology : The Economy Of Nature. 4th edition. W.H. Freeman.
