F Environmental Biology

Catalog description

54 hours lecture per term. This course is for non-science majors and introduces the student to the principles of organismal biology, framed in the context of Earth’s natural environments. The course examines the interactive relationships between the environment and biological phenomena on all levels. In this exposé, the course explores Earth’s environmental systems including: global climate system, atmospheric system, aquatic systems, and terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems. The course highlights life’s influence on these systems in terms of core biological phenomena including: molecular biology, cellular biology, cellular respiration, photosynthesis, genetics, ecology, evolution, and biodiversity. The course analyzes how both robust and delicate biological systems adjust to a variety of human influences to produce complex environmental transformations. The course emphasizes the fundamental utility of reason and empiricism in scientific discovery and understanding. (Degree Credit) (CSU) (UC) AA GE, CSU GE, IGETC