Spring 2027

General Ecology

General Ecology covers the ecology of organisms, populations, communities, ecosystems, landscapes, and the biosphere, focusing on interactions with the physical environment.

offering recorded4 credits
Recorded instructors · Spring 2027 Sara Hotchkiss3.1/5

Summary

1 / 5

Past student reviews · Thomas Givnish

Exams were heavily based on memorizing old research papers from the readings rather than lecture material.

Grade history

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

All recorded terms · compare terms & instructors

Prerequisites

Course map

Satisfied Quantitative Reasoning (QR) A and ZOOLOGY/​BIOLOGY/​BOTANY 152, (ZOOLOGY/​BIOLOGY 101 and 102),BIOCORE 381, or BOTANY/​BIOLOGY 130, or graduate/professional standing

BOTANY/ZOOLOGY 460 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

Professors

Spring 2027
Adjusted rating
RMP difficulty
captured reviews
About this rating

Raw average: 2.63/5 from 27 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 — Spring 2023: 3.03 GPA, 44.6% A/AB (n=65 letter grades); Spring 2025: 3.38 GPA, 60.4% A/AB (n=48 letter grades); Spring 2026: 3.23 GPA, 54.2% A/AB (n=59 letter grades). Includes jointly taught sections.

Historical instructors & teaching patterns

SARA C. HOTCHKISS is recorded teaching in Spring 2013, Spring 2015, Spring 2017, Spring 2019, Spring 2023, Spring 2025, Spring 2026. Recorded history may be incomplete and does not establish a future schedule.

STANLEY I. DODSON is recorded teaching in Fall 2006, Fall 2007, Fall 2008. Recorded history may be incomplete and does not establish a future schedule.

THOMAS GIVNISH is recorded teaching in Spring 2007, Spring 2009, Spring 2011, Spring 2014, Spring 2016, Spring 2018, Spring 2020, Spring 2022, Spring 2024. 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

Spring 2027

Schedule loads here as you scroll.

SectionModeEnrolled / capacityWaitlist
LEC 001Classroom Instruction0 / 600
LAB 301Classroom Instruction0 / 200
LAB 302Classroom Instruction0 / 200
LAB 303Classroom Instruction0 / 00
LAB 304Classroom Instruction0 / 200
DIS 601Classroom Instruction0 / 200
DIS 602Classroom Instruction0 / 200
DIS 603Classroom Instruction0 / 00
DIS 604Classroom Instruction0 / 200
LAB 305Classroom Instruction0 / 00
DIS 605Classroom Instruction0 / 00
LEC 001Classroom Instruction0 / 600
LAB 301Classroom Instruction0 / 200
LAB 302Classroom Instruction0 / 200
LAB 303Classroom Instruction0 / 00
LAB 304Classroom Instruction0 / 200
DIS 601Classroom Instruction0 / 200
DIS 602Classroom Instruction0 / 200
DIS 603Classroom Instruction0 / 00
DIS 604Classroom Instruction0 / 200
LAB 305Classroom Instruction0 / 00
DIS 605Classroom Instruction0 / 00

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

Meeting source records
Download part 1

Student experience

the class

Past student reviews · Thomas Givnish

A student described the teaching style as confusing and disorganized, noting that the instructor rushed through complicated topics with wordy definitions.

Recent recorded grades — Spring 2025: 3.38 GPA, 60.4% A/AB (n=48 letter grades); Fall 2025: 3.50 GPA, 76.7% A/AB (n=60 letter grades); Spring 2026: 3.23 GPA, 54.2% A/AB (n=59 letter grades).

difficulty & workload

Past student reviews · Thomas Givnish

Exams were heavily based on memorizing old research papers from the readings rather than lecture material.

Past student reviews · Thomas Givnish

One student reported being unable to ask TAs for help with homework, which led to failing most assignments.

Topics

  • Ecology across scales from individual organisms to the biosphere.
  • Interactions between organisms and their physical environment.

Skills

  • Studying ecological relationships in quantitative terms using field and laboratory methods.
  • Analyzing the interaction of organisms with each other and their physical environment.

Grades

Historical instructor

Spring 2027 · 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 · 0.17 GPA average error.

Grades over time

Through Spring 2027

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

1280 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/ZOOLOGY 460 · Spring 2027

General Ecology

Recorded 2026-10-14
BOTANY/ZOOLOGY 460 · Spring 2027

General Ecology

Recorded 2026-10-14
Raw records 
[
  {
    "run_id": "20261014T203208-0851c9a1",
    "semester": "1274",
    "observed_at": "2026-10-14 17:50:09.728220+00:00",
    "offering_id": "1274:208:001982",
    "course_id": "BOTANY/ZOOLOGY 460",
    "course_uid": "course_d5149edf8c7ee88fdc8c9825",
    "term_id": "1274",
    "source_course_id": "001982",
    "source_subject_id": "208",
    "title": "General Ecology",
    "credits_min": 4,
    "credits_max": 4,
    "typically_offered": "Fall, Spring"
  },
  {
    "run_id": "20261014T203208-0851c9a1",
    "semester": "1274",
    "observed_at": "2026-10-14 17:50:09.728220+00:00",
    "offering_id": "1274:970:001982",
    "course_id": "BOTANY/ZOOLOGY 460",
    "course_uid": "course_d5149edf8c7ee88fdc8c9825",
    "term_id": "1274",
    "source_course_id": "001982",
    "source_subject_id": "970",
    "title": "General Ecology",
    "credits_min": 4,
    "credits_max": 4,
    "typically_offered": "Fall, Spring"
  }
]
Rate My Professors

Student reviews

Original comments behind the course and instructor summaries.

Read original reviews
Download part 1
Madgrades

Grade history

Recorded grade distributions by term, section, and instructor.

Explore recorded grades
Dataset & model

Recorded 2026-10-14

View the dataset on Hugging Face
Model outputs & technical records
Qwen/Qwen3.8-27B
LLM outputs across runs
Download part 1
Full model traces

Recorded model configuration, reasoning, and tool conversations.

Download part 1Download part 2
Model & dataset provenance 
{
  "model": "Qwen/Qwen3.8-27B",
  "model_revision": "1d4bf0f2ff6012fd82039f2fa52739d0dd7c60c0",
  "task_version": "17",
  "output_id": "71b5002c56eace061a5c727f030b15124d6bae84ad28137118f77db2a4cead92",
  "requirements_status": "needs_review",
  "dataset_revision": "fc1811fa52e581ea57a35c0cf3343f8740a8ffbf",
  "observed_at": "2026-10-14 17:50:09.728220+00:00"
}