Biodiversity: Science and Society

Catalog description

Biodiversity lays the foundation for nature’s ability to properly function. In turn humans depend on a healthy-functioning natural system. Adequate biodiversity provides us with many things including new genetic material for agriculture, medical discoveries, recreational opportunities and good mental health. This course will examine key themes in our understanding of biodiversity. Students enrolled in this course will have a better understanding of issues, challenges and potential solutions to our current biodiversity crisis. Course meetings will largely consist of group discussions of assigned readings. Discussions will focus on critically evaluating and analyzing information, hypotheses and knowledge that arise from the readings. Writing assignments will emphasize succinct but thorough interpretation of information, policy, conservation and societal impacts of biodiversity. USP 2003-2014 Code U3I, U3L