November 12th class lecture

Class today began with Dr. Hartley talking about our Disturbance Assignment and commented that she was, quite frankly: DISTURBED. <this despite my giving her a coupon promising 1 gram of medical marijuana for free at a local dispensary which I got as proof I went to the Sustainability Fair>. Why then was she disturbed? Because many people had neglected to cite their sources. She wants us to cite (author’s name, year published) with in the paper and will also accept if you note it with a number and the number is listed in the literature cited section at the end of your assignment. For class notes: (Mooore 2002 in Hartley 2009). A lecture citation in the literature cited section should read: Hartley, L.M. 2009. Effects of Disturbance on Disease lecture, Disease Ecology, University of Colorado at Denver. She wants us to get comfortable citing sources and said she will take hypothetical examples  noted as, “suspected, but not confirmed through research.” She also gave us a new deadline to turn in this assignment: Monday by mid-night.

November 10 Lecture

Ok, here we go. We began class today (as usual) with some announcements. First off, Dr. Hartley changed the disease picture on the blog and Alyse won a fantabulous prize… FAKE SNOW!!!! Damn, I wish I would have won… Oh well, maybe next time. Then Sarah gave a public service announcement regarding an upcoming event that COPIRG is hosting. On Thursday the 12th (yes, thats this Thursday) from 10:00 am to 3:00 pm in the P.E. Event Center Lobby, it will be the Campus Sustainability Fair. Attendees will learn about sustainability initiatives on our campus and around Denver. Also, Dr. Hartley will give one extra credit point on any assignment to anyone who attends provided that you bring back some sort of evidence that you went. For more info, click here <http://www.cudenver.edu/Academics/Colleges/SPA/About/Pages/ViewOurSpecialEvents.aspx>. We then talked about blogging and Dr. Hartley pointed out how “the chain of infection” has been broken!! (a.k.a noone has blogged in a while). Lannie and I are the only two who have not blogged yet… So, here I am and Lannie has taken Thursday’s blog. Don’t forget, we all have to comment on the blog at least 8 times in the semester, and the semester is quickly coming to an end. So for all of you that don’t have Disease Ecology Blog as your homepage (like I do) get with it and start posting. I’m sure my post will give you PLENTY to comment on. One more thing before we get into the meat and potatoes of todays lecture – The disturbance assignment is due on Thursday!!

DISTURBANCE ASSIGMENT

Hi everyone,

I made this short blog, because I have been having difficulty with the disturbance assignment.  I also thought that it could help others who are also having difficulty with the assignment. If anyone is having difficulty finding a specific disease that decreases with the help of non-native species, there is an article called, Release of invasive plants from fungal and viral pathogens, by Charles E. Mitchell and Alison G. Power that can help. If anyone found anything for how pollution can decrease a disease, please let me know.

Marie

New Blog Header!

Hi Class,

The first person to post a comment with the correct name of the image on the blog header will win a fabulous prize in class.  Hint – this pathogen is the cause of a current world epidemic and vaccines were given for this pathogen last week at UCD.

Dr. Hartley

10/27/09

In class today we received our second self evaluation sheet and three questions on what we like/dislike about the class and what can Dr. Hartley do to improve the class. These need to be handed in, typed,  on Thursday at the beginning of class. There were also a couple of announcements about all assignments that have been turned in, check your email for the assignments returned to you and grades are available for viewing on blackboard. Dr. Hartley said on the Ecosystem assignment there was some confusion on when we were asked to list things or explain the answer. We need to read the question and be sure to answer it properly, however it is asked to answer.

Lecture 10.22.09

Today in class, we finished up the discussion on Landscapes.  We started out by reviewing the definition of “large-scale landscape features.”  Large-scale landscape features are broadly defined as ‘large components of the overall landscape used by wildlife, that may be differentiated by vegetative, geologic, hydrologic, and structural elements.  An example of this would be a mountain.  We then reviewed the difference between “ecosystem engineers” and “keystone species”.  An “ecosystem engineer” is any organism that creates or modifies habitats, whereas a “keystone species” is a species that has a disproportionate effect on its environment relative to its abundance.  While it is possible that an ecosystem engineer can also be considered a keystone species, this is not always the case.

We then discussed how alterations to landscape structure usually leads to alterations in landscape processes.  These altered processes can be either physical processes, such as the erosion of soil and the movement of water, or nutrient cycling processes, such as nutrient leaching and accelerated/decelerated mineralization.

10.20.09

Hey all! The announcements for class are be prepared to read the primary literature papers for groups 1 and 2. Those papers are the Buruli ulcer and Lyme disease. We will be discussing it on Thursday. Also the ecosystem process assessment is also due on Thursday and should be sent through the digital drop box.

            In class today, group 6 went over their presentation on the gypsy moth frass and its effect on nitrogen cycling. The specific aims for the grant proposal was also due. We also went over the first half of the lecture, of Landscape Ecology.

            The lecture was broken down in 4 topics; terminology and concepts in Landscape Ecology, effects of Landscapes on disease, effects of disease on landscapes, and socio-ecological issues.

            We quickly jumped into the definition of a landscape. A landscaped is an area of that that is spatially heterogeneous in at least one factor of interest. How big is a landscape? Well that can depend on what you are focusing on. If you are focusing on ant movement, than the landscape would be 1m in a patch of grassland. A landscape’s size is like an ecosystem’s size, it depends on what you are studying.