Ecology - 575.615

The course examines an introduction to the organization of individual organisms into populations, communities, and ecosystems and interactions between organisms, humans, and the environment. Topics include causation and prediction in ecology; evolution and natural selection; populations and competition; biodiversity, extinction, and conservation; the impact of forest fragmentation and deforestation on diversity, erosion and sedimentation; wetland ecology and restoration; succession, stability, and disturbance; eutrophication and the Chesapeake Bay; island biogeography; and global climate change. An independent project will be required regarding a field site visited by the student; the student will examine an ecological, conservation, or restoration event or issue about that site.