Climate, Health, and Organismal Biology

Catalog description

The course provides students with a foundational understanding of organismal response at the cellular and molecular level to changes in the environment due to climate change and pollution. Increased emissions of greenhouse gases and continuous release of other anthropogenic chemical pollutants are profoundly impacting organismal health. Are some species more vulnerable? What molecular and biochemical toolkits are needed to withstand rapid environmental changes? Discussion will focus on the physiological stress resulting from and the adaptive responses made to changes in temperature, salinity, dissolved oxygen and ocean acidity combined with various chemical stressors in a range of species. Prerequisites in organic chemistry and biology strongly recommended.