A Course in Mathematical and Statistical Ecology

As the world enters the new millennium, mankind faces a series ofnew prob- lems, many of them created by man himself. These include overpopulation, air and water pollution, global warming, accumulation of greenhouse gases, darnage to the ozone layer and loss of biodiversity. Perhaps these problems were around even earlier in an incipient stage, but they have now assumed global proportions and are uppermost in the minds of all. A natural con- sequence is enhanced interest in sciences connected with these problems. Ecology is a field that is immensely useful in understanding many of them. In the seventies, nature conservation became a concern of wide sections of society, well beyond the small group of expert ecologists. Species extinc- tion and depletion of biological resources were seen as major threats to human welfare. It was therefore natural for scientists from different disci- plines to seek reasons behind these developments. We were no exceptions and when opportunity to interact with ecologists as statistreal consultants came, we found ourselves reading more and more of ecology and evolution- ary biology. Several years ago we proposed starting of an elective one semester course on statistical ecology for graduate students of statistics of Pune University.