Spring 2027

Introductory Ecology

Introductory ecology covering organism-environment relationships, population dynamics, community organization, human-environment interactions, and action programs.

offering recorded3 credits
Recorded instructors · Spring 2027 Anthony Ives

Summary

1 / 6

Past student reviews · Tony Ives

Anthony Ives used quizzes worth 20 points each, with a 60-point final. A student warned that even a couple of wrong answers lowered scores, but extra credit could raise a grade.

What you’ll be able to do

  • Develop a conceptual framework for ecosystem processes and patterns with humans integral to it.

  • Describe how humans interact with nonhuman ecosystem elements.

  • Explore how ecological science can help resolve modern environmental problems.

  • Integrate new ideas from international and interdisciplinary perspectives on the environment.

  • Explain the social, economic, and/or environmental dimensions of the sustainability challenge(s) of protecting ecosystems.

  • Analyze the causes of and solutions for the sustainability challenge of protecting biodiversity.

Source: UW Guide 1 UW Guide 2 UW Guide 3

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

Spring 2027

Past student reviews · Tony Ives

Anthony Ives taught this course with lectures posted online and assessments consisting of six multiple-choice tests. Students found the exams challenging and poorly worded, but reported that ample extra credit helped improve final grades. He was described as passionate and enthusiastic, making the material engaging despite the difficult testing style.

Recent recorded grades — Spring 2023: 2.97 GPA, 37.9% A/AB (n=87 letter grades); Spring 2024: 2.95 GPA, 38.2% A/AB (n=76 letter grades); Spring 2026: 3.05 GPA, 44.7% A/AB (n=76 letter grades). Includes jointly taught sections.

Historical instructors & teaching patterns

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

Spring 2027

Schedule loads here as you scroll.

SectionModeEnrolled / capacityWaitlist
LEC 001Classroom Instruction0 / 300
LEC 001Classroom Instruction0 / 300
LEC 001Classroom Instruction0 / 300

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

Past student reviews · Tony Ives

Anthony Ives taught an engaging ecology course with online lectures and organism-of-the-day openings. Students found the material interesting, though some found his jumping-around style hard to follow.

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

Past student reviews · Tony Ives

Anthony Ives used quizzes worth 20 points each, with a 60-point final. A student warned that even a couple of wrong answers lowered scores, but extra credit could raise a grade.

Past student reviews · Tony Ives

One student found exams poorly worded and intended to trip them up, saying studying did not help. Another said the class became interesting once they understood his test style.

Topics

  • Population dynamics and community organization
  • Human-environment relationships
  • Sustainability challenges of protecting ecosystems
  • Biodiversity protection

Skills

  • Developing a conceptual framework for ecosystem processes and patterns with humans integral to them.
  • Explaining the social, economic, and/or environmental dimensions of the sustainability challenge of protecting ecosystems.
  • Analyzing the causes of and solutions for the sustainability challenge of protecting biodiversity.

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 · 0.13 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/ENVIRST/ZOOLOGY 260 · Spring 2027

Introductory Ecology

Recorded 2026-10-14
BOTANY/ENVIRST/ZOOLOGY 260 · Spring 2027

Introductory Ecology

Recorded 2026-10-14
BOTANY/ENVIRST/ZOOLOGY 260 · Spring 2027

Introductory Ecology

Recorded 2026-10-14
Raw records 
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    "course_id": "BOTANY/ENVIRST/ZOOLOGY 260",
    "course_uid": "course_d0c04e1b2f5491432beeb760",
    "term_id": "1274",
    "source_course_id": "019269",
    "source_subject_id": "208",
    "title": "Introductory Ecology",
    "credits_min": 3,
    "credits_max": 3,
    "typically_offered": "Fall, Spring"
  },
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    "credits_min": 3,
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    "typically_offered": "Fall, Spring"
  },
  {
    "run_id": "20261014T203208-0851c9a1",
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    "offering_id": "1274:970:019269",
    "course_id": "BOTANY/ENVIRST/ZOOLOGY 260",
    "course_uid": "course_d0c04e1b2f5491432beeb760",
    "term_id": "1274",
    "source_course_id": "019269",
    "source_subject_id": "970",
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    "credits_min": 3,
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]
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": "05b942d3f923cef393959fd451864822270508513bdeb9f968578d6e6d40f267",
  "requirements_status": "valid",
  "dataset_revision": "fc1811fa52e581ea57a35c0cf3343f8740a8ffbf",
  "observed_at": "2026-10-14 17:50:09.728220+00:00"
}