Forest Park Living Lab Field Ecology Techniques

Catalog description

A one credit field-based course designed to introduce students to some of the fundamental research concepts and techniques used in Ecology and conservation. These include following the scientific method to develop research questions and testable hypotheses, designing robust experiments and surveys, basic navigation and orienteering skills, sampling techniques in terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems, data analysis, and reporting of results and conclusions. Technical themes of the course will focus on techniques for estimating the abundance of populations, the biological diversity of communities and ecological interactions.