Month	Date	Day	Topic	Reading Assignment * Highlighted papers in this column will be used for class discussion
August	25	T	Overview & the ecosystem concept	Ch. 1
	27	Th	Earth’s climate system	Ch. 2 (pp. 18-40); Schlesinger 2006
September	1	T	Biomes	Ch. 2 (pp. 41-45)
	3	Th	Geology, soil development, and nutrients	Ch. 3; Chadwick et el. 1999
	8	T	Temporal dynamics of ecosystems	Ch. 13
	10	Th	Ecosystem water balance	Ch. 4 (pp. 77-96); Koch et al. 2004
	15	T	Energy balance and carbon input	Ch. 4 (pp. 71-77); Ch. 5 (pp. 97-115)
	17	Th	Photosynthesis and GPP	Ch. 5 (pp. 115-121); Reich et al. 1997
	22	T	Respiration and NPP	Ch. 6
	24	Th	Trophic dynamics	Ch. 11; Post 2002
	29	T	Decomposition and origin of soil OM	Ch. 7
October	1	Th	Nutrient use	Ch. 8; Elser et al., 2007
	6	T	Nutrient cycling	Ch. 9
	8	Th	Mid-term course evaluation and review
	13	T	Mid-term Exam
	15	Th	Community effects on ecosystem processes	Ch. 12
	20	T	Ecosystem consequences of fire disturbances	Reserved reading in Biology Library; Wardle et al. 2003
	22	Th	Comparisons of aquatic and terrestrial ecosystems	Ch. 10
	27	T	Biodiversity and ecosystem processes	Ch. 12 (pp. 274-277); Tilman et al. 2001;Hector & Bagchi. 2007
	29	Th	Effects of pollution on ecosystems	Reserved reading in Biology Library
November	3	T	Greenhouse warming and ecological responses	Walther et al. 2002
	5	Th	Biotic feedback of climate change	Chapin et al. 2000 Foley et al. 2003
	10	T	Global geochemical cycles	Ch. 15; Norby et al. 2005
	12	Th	Human dominance and ecosystem management	Ch. 16
	17	T	Human dominance and ecosystem management	Rabalais et al. 2002
	19	Th	Term project presentations (groups 1-4)	Term paper due
	24	T	THANKSGIVING BREAK
	26	Th	THANKSGIVING BREAK
December	1	T	Term project presentations (groups 5-8)
	3	Th	Term project presentations (groups 9-12)
	8	T	Wrap-up & intro to relevant courses