Fall 2026

Introductory Ecology

Introductory Ecology covers organism-environment relationships, population dynamics, community organization, and human-environment action programs.

offering recorded3 credits
Recorded instructors · Fall 2026 Adrian Treves2.4/5

Summary

1 / 6

Historical reviews of Tony Ives: Tests carry the most weight, so students emphasize completing all extra credit to boost their final grade. Quizzes are short but tricky, requiring careful attention to lecture material and readings.

Grade history

↗
average GPA
letter grades
A
AB
B
BC
C
D
F

All recorded terms · compare terms & instructors

Prerequisites

Course map

None

  • None
BOTANY/ENVIRST/ZOOLOGY 260 used by

“Used by” includes alternatives; linked courses may have other requirements. This is a best-effort interpretation; check the catalog requirements above.

Prerequisite text tree
  • None

Professors

Fall 2026

Adrian Treves

Adjusted rating
RMP difficulty
captured reviews
About this rating

Raw average: 2.14/5 from 83 quality ratings. The adjusted rating blends this with the UW review average (3.66/5), weighted as 20 additional ratings. Smaller samples stay closer to that average. Each captured review is counted once in the prior; this does not correct who chooses to leave a review.

RMP profile ↗ · All captured review dates; profile matched by name.

Recent recorded grades — Fall 2023: 3.49 GPA, 66.9% A/AB (n=142 letter grades); Fall 2024: 3.72 GPA, 81.1% A/AB (n=164 letter grades); Fall 2025: 3.35 GPA, 61.0% A/AB (n=136 letter grades). Includes jointly taught sections.

Historical instructors & teaching patterns

Adrian Treves is the current instructor, but all provided reviews concern historical instructor Tony Ives. Ives is described as passionate and knowledgeable, often using travel stories and an 'organism of the day' to engage students. However, some students found his lecture style disjointed or his exams poorly worded and tricky.

ADRIAN TREVES is recorded teaching in Fall 2011, Fall 2012, Fall 2013, Fall 2015, Fall 2016, Fall 2017, Fall 2018, Fall 2019, Fall 2020, Fall 2022, Fall 2023, Fall 2024, Fall 2025. Recorded history may be incomplete and does not establish a future schedule.

ANTHONY IVES is recorded teaching in Spring 2007, Spring 2008, Spring 2009, Spring 2011, Spring 2012, Spring 2013, Spring 2014, Spring 2015, Spring 2016, Spring 2017, Spring 2019, Spring 2020, Spring 2022, Spring 2023, Spring 2024, Spring 2026. Recorded history may be incomplete and does not establish a future schedule.

Recorded history may be incomplete and does not establish a future schedule.

Calendar & sections

Fall 2026

Schedule loads here as you scroll.

SectionModeEnrolled / capacityWaitlist
LEC 001Online (some classroom)32 / 1800
LEC 001Online (some classroom)34 / 1800
LEC 001Online (some classroom)36 / 1800

Times are Central. Select a meeting for details; export includes recorded dates for the selected sections. Enrollment reflects scan time.

Meeting source records
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Student experience

the class

Historical reviews for Tony Ives describe him as passionate and enthusiastic, with engaging lectures that inspire students. The course is generally well-regarded for its straightforward material and instructor's genuine care for ecology.

Recent recorded grades — Spring 2025: 3.01 GPA, 41.0% A/AB (n=61 letter grades); Fall 2025: 3.35 GPA, 61.0% A/AB (n=136 letter grades); Spring 2026: 3.05 GPA, 44.7% A/AB (n=76 letter grades).

difficulty & workload

Historical reviews of Tony Ives: Tests carry the most weight, so students emphasize completing all extra credit to boost their final grade. Quizzes are short but tricky, requiring careful attention to lecture material and readings.

Historical reviews of Tony Ives: Lectures are posted online, allowing students to skip class, though in-person discussions are noted as helpful. Some find the 'organism of the day' segment engaging, while others criticize the testing style as poorly worded.

Topics

  • Population dynamics
  • Community organization
  • Human-environment relationships

Skills

  • Developing action programs for human-environment relationships

Grades

Historical instructor

Fall 2026 · Projected

Before grades are released

– average GPA

Approximate 80% prediction interval

About this estimate

The course’s semester-average GPA, not an individual student’s grade. The center uses 5 same-season terms, weighted toward recent results.

The range uses the finite-sample 80th-percentile rank of absolute errors from earlier same-season forecasts. Each forecast uses only records from earlier terms. At least four forecasts are required; bounds are rounded outward and limited to 0–4. This is an empirical estimate: changing instructors or grading policies can reduce its coverage.

8 earlier forecasts · 0.30 GPA average error.

Grades over time

Through Fall 2026

More grade details Grade mix, volume & source data

Where this course fits relative to

Latest available grades · Spring 2026 · all course levels

GPA

Higher than % of other courses in this group.

Course GPAs · red marks this course’s range

letter grades

More recorded grades than % of other courses in this group.

Typical course in this group: letter grades.

About this comparison

1283 courses over the same term, each with at least 30 recorded letter grades. Cross-listed courses count once. GPA is not a measure of difficulty or teaching quality. The typical course is the median by recorded grade count; tied values are not counted as lower. Grade counts describe course scale, not unique students or typical section size.

Descriptions compare GPA with this group’s average: at least 0.20 higher or lower; otherwise close to average. Section size uses median recorded enrollment: small up to 30, mid-sized 31–99, large 100+. Lectures and discussion/lab sections are described separately.

Sources & history

UW–Madison

Catalog & offerings

Descriptions, prerequisites, and recorded course offerings.

Catalog observation history

Observations at scan time; dates do not imply when a catalog change took effect.

Download part 1
Selected offering source records
BOTANY/ENVIRST/ZOOLOGY 260 · Fall 2026

Introductory Ecology

Recorded 2026-09-07
BOTANY/ENVIRST/ZOOLOGY 260 · Fall 2026

Introductory Ecology

Recorded 2026-09-07
BOTANY/ENVIRST/ZOOLOGY 260 · Fall 2026

Introductory Ecology

Recorded 2026-09-07
Raw records 
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    "run_id": "20260907T155543-ce3781c4",
    "semester": "1272",
    "observed_at": "2026-09-07 15:55:43.033547+00:00",
    "offering_id": "1272:208:019269",
    "course_id": "BOTANY/ENVIRST/ZOOLOGY 260",
    "course_uid": "course_d0c04e1b2f5491432beeb760",
    "term_id": "1272",
    "source_course_id": "019269",
    "source_subject_id": "208",
    "title": "Introductory Ecology",
    "credits_min": 3,
    "credits_max": 3,
    "typically_offered": "Fall, Spring"
  },
  {
    "run_id": "20260907T155543-ce3781c4",
    "semester": "1272",
    "observed_at": "2026-09-07 15:55:43.033547+00:00",
    "offering_id": "1272:360:019269",
    "course_id": "BOTANY/ENVIRST/ZOOLOGY 260",
    "course_uid": "course_d0c04e1b2f5491432beeb760",
    "term_id": "1272",
    "source_course_id": "019269",
    "source_subject_id": "360",
    "title": "Introductory Ecology",
    "credits_min": 3,
    "credits_max": 3,
    "typically_offered": "Fall, Spring"
  },
  {
    "run_id": "20260907T155543-ce3781c4",
    "semester": "1272",
    "observed_at": "2026-09-07 15:55:43.033547+00:00",
    "offering_id": "1272:970:019269",
    "course_id": "BOTANY/ENVIRST/ZOOLOGY 260",
    "course_uid": "course_d0c04e1b2f5491432beeb760",
    "term_id": "1272",
    "source_course_id": "019269",
    "source_subject_id": "970",
    "title": "Introductory Ecology",
    "credits_min": 3,
    "credits_max": 3,
    "typically_offered": "Fall, Spring"
  }
]
Rate My Professors

Student reviews

Original comments behind the course and instructor summaries.

Read original reviews
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Madgrades

Grade history

Recorded grade distributions by term, section, and instructor.

Explore recorded grades
Dataset & model

Recorded 2026-09-07

View the dataset on Hugging Face
Model outputs & technical records
nvidia/Qwen3.6-35B-A3B-NVFP4
LLM outputs across runs
Download part 1
Full model traces

Recorded model configuration, reasoning, and tool conversations.

Download part 1
Model & dataset provenance 
{
  "model": "nvidia/Qwen3.6-35B-A3B-NVFP4",
  "model_revision": "1355db6a052410cfd62085d94b58866fd0f2c3c5",
  "task_version": "14",
  "output_id": "20203c810d25d187b280df269cc42784fbb0ebbf2a18b8c8b0f4299313323c9a",
  "requirements_status": "valid",
  "dataset_revision": "e243353dcb7d79b7247ced91d69443ef4c2a6349",
  "observed_at": "2026-09-07 15:55:43.033547+00:00"
}