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Courses are offered to students over two semesters per year, covering a vast range of topics such as animal behaviour, evolutionary biology, biogeography, community ecology, theoretical and quantitative ecology.

 

Centre for Ecological Sciences (Courses 2025 - 2026)

 

AUGUST SEMESTER

EC 101 (AUG) 1:0

Process of Scientific Thinking 
Instructor: Maria Thaker

Approaches of scientific practice and research conduct. Historical perspective of various philosophies of science and the process of scientific thinking (e.g. deduction, induction and Inference by Best Explanation). Ethics in conducting, writing, and publishing science (including plagiarism), best practices for replicable research. How to read and review scientific literature critically.

References:

• Samir Okasha. 2016. Philosophy of Science: a very short introduction. Oxford University Press

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EC 202 (AUG) 2:1

Ecology: Pattern and Process
Instructor: Umesh Srinivasan

History of ecology; interactions between organisms and the environment; ecological niche; distribution of species and communities; basic population biology; interspecific interactions; community assembly; diversity, richness and abundance; ecosystem structure and function; species concepts; ecological and evolutionary processes (dispersal and diversification); island biogeography; meta-population biology; macroecology.

References:

• A.E. Magurran, Measuring Biological Diversity, Blackwell Publishing, 2004.
• J.H. Brown and M.V. Lomolino, Biogeography (Second Edition), Sinauer Associates, 1998.
• Pianka, E.R. Evolutionary Ecology. Eric R. Pianka, e-book, 2011.

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EC 301 (AUG) 2:1

Animal Behaviour: Mechanisms and Evolution
Instrictors: Rohini Balakrishnan and Kavita Isvaran

History and classical ethology; sensory processing and neural maps; learning and memory; hormones and behavior; behavioral genetics; navigation and communication; optimality approaches and evolutionary models to understand strategies for foraging, competition, group living, sexual selection and mate choice, parental care, predator-prey interactions. 

References:

• Animal Behavior (Second Edition). Michael D. Breed, Janice Moore (2016) Elsevier
• Neuroethology – J. M. Camhi (1984) Sinauer Associates, Sunderland.
• Behavioural Ecology: An Evolutionary Approach. J. R. Krebs & N. B. Davies (1991) Blackwell Press, Oxford University Press.
• An Introduction to Behavioural ecology.  J. R. Krebs, N. B. Davies and S. A. West (2012) Blackwell Press, Oxford University Press.

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EC 302 (AUG) 2:1

Plant-Animal Interactions (Ecology, Behaviour and Evolution)
Instructor: Saskya van Nouhuys

The interaction between plants and animals as consumers, parasites and mutualists. This includes sensory mechanisms of detection and assessment and signalling; energetics of plant–animal interactions; nectar, floral and vegetative scents and pollen chemistry; mate choice in plants; evolution of floral and fruit traits; plant defenses; behavioural and physiological processes in generalist and specialist herbivores, pollinators and seed dispersers.  This course is based on literature reading and discussion.

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EC 303 (AUG) 2:1

 

Stochastic and Spatial Dynamics in Biology
Instructor: Vishwesha Guttal

 

This course will cover topics on stochastic and spatial dynamics in biology that will have applications to various topics such as the ecology of species to pattern formation in cellular systems. Tentative topics are: 1) Single-species dynamics accounting for stochasticity and space; using bifurcation theory, reaction-diffusion and integrodifferential equations, Fisher Kolmogorov equations, Fokker-Planck and Langevin equations, etc. 2) Multi-species dynamics. Predator-prey and competition dynamics, etc. 3) Self-organization and pattern formations in biological systems; Turing patterns; swarm dynamics and swarm intelligence (agent-based models; non-equilibrium statistical physics), etc. Concepts of Phase Transitions in Biology.

 

References:

• Gardiner, Stochastic Methods A Handbook for the Natural and Social Sciences, Springer, (Ed 4 in 2009) ISBN 978-3-540- 70712-7
• Murray, Mathematical Biology, Springer (Ed 3 in 2002), 978-1-4757-7709-3

 

Pre-requisites: • EC 201 or equivalent (nonlinear dynamics, programming, basic probability and distributions)

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EC 305 (AUG) 2:1

Quantitative Ecology: Research Design and Inference
Instructor: Kartik Shanker

This course will focus on study design and statistical modelling in ecology. We will examine elements of effective study design, common pitfalls in study design and data collection, and the confrontation of ecological hypotheses with data using different statistical approaches and frameworks of inference. Throughout, we will examine concepts using examples from ecology, animal behaviour and evolution. The course will aim to provide proficiency to carry out various statistical techniques commonly used in ecology using the software R. The main topics that will be covered are: The scientific process in ecology; framing ecological questions; elements of study design; confronting ecological models with data; understanding the nature of data; statistical hypothesis testing; linear models, regression, ANOVA; generalised linear models; statistical modelling strategies

Pre-requisites: A background in ecology, behaviour or evolution, either in the form of courses taken, or projects done, or projects that you propose to do in ecology/behaviour/evolution

References:

• Gotelli NJ and Ellison AM (2013) A Primer of Ecological Statistics. Sinauer

• Zuur A, Ieno EN and GM Smith 2007 Analysing ecological data. Springer 

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JANUARY SEMESTER

 

EC 201 (JAN) 2:1

Theoretical and Mathematical Ecology
Instructor: Vishwesha Guttal

This course will introduce students to the following topics: Basic elements of theoretical ecology, building and analyzing mathematical models of ecological systems, generating new ecological insights and hypotheses. Discrete and continuous population models; nonlinear dynamics and bifurcations in ecological models; incorporating stochasticity and space; random walks in ecology and evolution; game theory and ESS; Price equation and levels of selection.

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EC 204 (JAN) 2:1

Evolutionary Biology
Instructors: Praveen Karanth and Kartik Sunagar

This course offers an in-depth, hands-on look at the basic principles of evolutionary biology, and discusses the recent advancements and the major ideas in the field. The course has a special emphasis on phylogenetics, population genetics, molecular evolution, genome evolution, and offers exposure to a wide range of theoretical and practical aspects for understanding the micro- and macroevolutionary processes that shape the diversity of life on earth.

Reference:
•Futuyma,D. J., Evolutionary Biology (Third Edition),Sinauer Associates,1998.Li

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EC 206 (JAN) 2:1

Evolutionary Genetics
Instructor: Kartik Sunagar

This course will emphasise teaching genetic principles and evolutionary mechanisms that generate the stupendous complexity in nature. The course will begin with discussions on evolutionary cosmology, including the origin of the Universe, Solar System, Earth, and life on our planet as we know it. Following this would be a series of lectures explaining the genetic mechanisms that generate variation in nature and how evolution operates on it. The course will then introduce various tools of the trade, including ‘omics’ technologies and associated bioinformatics, that have made it possible to address broad, interesting, and challenging questions in diverse fields of biology, including ecology, evolutionary biology, genetics, and biomedical research. This course will end with discussions on other interesting topics, including evolutionary development, evolutionary medicine, human evolution, and broader applications of evolutionary reasoning.

The course will consist of lectures, discussions and hands-on bioinformatic practical sessions. Practical sessions will introduce students to various aspects of data acquisition, processing, and analyses, while theory classes will provide in-depth knowledge of the underlying principles. At the end of the course, a final examination will be conducted to evaluate student performances.

References:

• Evolutionary biology. Douglas J. Futuyma (1998). 3rd Sinauer Associates Inc, Publishers, Sunderland.
• Evolutionary Analysis, Fifth Edition by Jon Herron Scott Freeman.
• Bioinformatics and Functional Genomics, Pevsner (3rd edition).
• Practical Computing for Biologists, Haddock and Dunn.

Pre-requisites: A basic understanding of genetics and molecular biology is desirable but not mandatory.

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EC 306 (JAN) 2:1

Advanced Ecological Statistics
Instructor: Kavita Isvaran

Course description: This course will cover advanced topics in ecological statistics. We will begin with a brief refresher on linear models (regression, ANOVA etc) and the null hypothesis significance testing framework. We will then move on to advanced topics, which will include Generalised Linear Models (with examples of binary, proportion and count data); tackling zero-inflation; Mixed Effects Models (linear and generalised linear mixed effects); statistical modelling strategies (best practice in choosing variables and setting up and interpreting models); model selection using an information theoretic approach (AIC etc); and using bootstrapping and permutation methods for inference in statistical models. The course will focus on fitting and interpreting statistical models through hands-on sessions in R/RStudio using ecological data-sets.

Prerequisites: EC 305 Quantitative Ecology: Research Design and Statistical Inference or equivalent. Since we will be working in R/RStudio, familiarity with R is also essential.

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LS 207 (JAN) 2:0
Scientific writing for ecologists
Instructor: Saskya van Nouhuys

Over the course of the semester we will progress through the steps of writing a scientific paper. We will cover the concept of a story, and what is needed to draw readers in, keep them engaged, and educate them about the topic. We will also study the structure of a paper, and the purpose of each section in a paper, as well as the structure and purpose of individual paragraphs and sentences.

• Reference
   Schimel, Joshua. Writing science: how to write papers that get cited and proposals that get funded. OUP USA, 2012.

Pre-requisite: It is necessary to have a manuscript in progress to work on during the semester.  Research and data analysis must all be finished so it are read to write.  Manuscripts that are partly written or in revision will also work well.

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LS 205 (JAN) 2:0

Ecology and Evolution (for IntPhD and MSc students)
Instructors: Kartik Sunagar and Saskya van Nouhuys

 

Biology and the natural sciences; Origin of life; History of life on earth; Bacteria and Protists; Fungi and other primitive plants; Seed bearing plants; Animals without backbones; Insects, Vertebrates, Phylogeny and Systematics; Mechanisms of Evolution; Biological diversity on earth; Selected topics in plant and animal physiology; ecology; sensory biology; behavioral ecology; population, community and ecosystem ecology.

 

References:

• Peter Medawar (1984). Pluto’s Republic: Incorporating The Art of the Soluble and Induction and Intuition in Scientific Thought
• D’Arcy Wentworth Thompson (1942). On Growth and Form (Edited and Abridged by John Tyler Bonner, 1992).

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