Wright Lab
Biodiversity & Ecosystem Function
Teaching
Justin is happy to lead graduate seminars and serve as an Independent Study instructor for undergraduates on any topic that relates to his research.
Current teaching
Once Justin's Cornell EEB course load is set, replace this box with the current course list — same format as the Past Teaching entries below (course number/title, term, description).
Past teaching
Justin was happy to lead graduate seminars and serve as an Independent Study instructor for undergraduates on any topic that related to his research.
Co-taught with Jim Clark every fall. This graduate-level course addresses the fundamental question: why do we observe the diversity of organisms, how did it get there, and what maintains that diversity? These questions lead to analysis of how organisms interact within populations, how populations interact in communities, and how those interactions are regulated by the physical environment. Understanding the controls on populations is critical for developing sustainable harvest strategies, anticipating exotic invasions, biological control of pest species, managing rare and endangered species and their habitats, and preserving biodiversity in the face of rapid global change. The course examines the state of the art — goals of biodiversity science, how those goals are approached, what we've learned, and how it's applied in management and conservation — and consists of lecture meetings plus a lab section used for field trips.
A course for senior undergraduates, offered every other fall. Covers topics in ecosystem, community, and physiological ecology of temperate plants and animals through hands-on experimentation, addressing how biological processes are affected by biotic interactions. Theory and methods are reviewed through discussion, while hypothesis formulation, experimental design, data acquisition and processing, and data analysis are learned through field investigation. Includes several field trips, including two weekends.
Examines what controls the distribution and abundance of organisms, how organisms interact with one another, and how organisms collectively control the chemistry, physical structure, and climate of the planet — with emphasis on how our species is fundamentally altering ecosystem structure and function at local, regional, and global scales. Each class opens with a "graph or figure of the day" not in the text but reinforcing a key point of the assigned chapter, followed by partner/small-group discussion and then full-class discussion. The course emphasizes developing a null model and a predicted outcome, and comparing both to the actual data acquired, building the critical thinking and evaluation skills that are the primary theme of exams.