Biodiversity Conservation I

Catalog description

This course is the first course of a two-course, four-credit sequence in which students will consider different concepts of the term biodiversity and different methods for measuring biodiversity. Global spatial and temporal patterns of biodiversity will be explored, including an overview of the world's major biomes. The relevance of scale to an understanding of biodiversity patterns will be discussed. The unit will further discuss the importance of consumptive and non-consumptive values of biodiversity and associated ecosystem services, as well as introducing major contemporary direct and indirect threats to biodiversity, including climate change. Different methods employed for conserving biodiversity will then be introduced, with emphasis on the conservation of forest, grassland and stream environments, to be explored through case studies and related field trips. The role of protected areas for in situ conservation will also be introduced, including US federal protected areas (wilderness areas, national monuments, national parks), agricultural land easements and restoration projects in built environments.