Environmental Biology (Bio 206 )

Overview

Schedule & Readings

Lab & Field Schedule

Reaction Papers

Independent Projects

Policies

Course Overview

Environmental biology deals with the relationships of living things to one another and to their environment. Within this context, this course has the following objectives:

• To understand the ecological principals that provide the scientific underpinning of environmental biology,
• To analyze local, national and global environmental issues in the context of these ecological principals,
• To develop the skills to think deeply and critically about current environmental issues,
• To examine human impacts on the environment and the role the culture plays in molding our perception of the environment, and
• To focus attention on constructive methods to effect significant changes in the world that can help lead to a sustainable future.

Knowledge of the principals of ecology must be integrated with an understanding of the social, cultural, economic and human context when examining environmental decisions. This course is intended to improve your ability to read critically, explore new subject matter creatively and to communicate your ideas effectively in oral and written formats.

We meet for two hours on Tuesdays and Thursdays. These 2-hour periods will involve a mix of lecture, discussion, debate, lab, computer and field activities, and student presentations. Approximately half of the Wednesday laboratory sessions will be field trips. The other half will be comprised of three group projects that will involve asking questions, posing hypotheses, collecting and analyzing data, and presenting conclusions in a written or oral format. Because of the weather and the long-term nature of several labs, we sometimes will need to do the labs in a less-than-preferred order and have two or more labs in progress at once.