Course ID: | ECOL 4080/6080. 4 hours. 3 hours lecture and 1 hours lab per week. |
Course Title: | Principles of Integrative Conservation and Sustainability |
Course Description: | Provides an integrative overview of conservation ecology and sustainability in theory and practice, preparing students for careers in the field by demonstrating the application of principles to real management issues. |
Oasis Title: | Integr Conserv Sust |
Prerequisite: | (ECOL 3500 and ECOL 3500L) or (ECOL 3505H and ECOL 3505L) |
Semester Course Offered: | Offered fall semester every year. |
Grading System: | A-F (Traditional) |
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Course Objectives: | Students will be able to:
• Understand the ecological, economic, and ethical principles underlying conservation biology.
• Demonstrate how the science of conservation biology is used to solve management problems using tools such as structured decision making, population viability analysis, conservation genetics, and systematic conservation planning.
• Discuss the challenges and controversies of conservation biology, including historical inequities and racism, environmental justice, and the challenges of community-based conservation.
• Explain principles of sustainability, including the need for systems thinking, as well as the potential for and challenges of sustainable manufacturing, sustainable energy, and sustainable resource use. |
Topical Outline: | The history of conservation biology
Global biodiversity and why it is important: historical and contemporary losses and patterns
Conservation values and ethics
Environmental justice as a foundation of sustainability
Economics and conservation
Principles of sustainability
Conservation challenges and solutions to protect freshwater biodiversity and ecosystems
Extinction
Habitat fragmentation
Overexploitation
Invasive species in the Homogocene
Case study of exotic species in the Laurentian Great Lakes
Environmental law and policy
Climate change
Conservation genetics and addressing the challenges of small populations
Monitoring and predicting viability of populations
Protected areas
The role of local people in conservation
Case study in park management: History of changing priorities for Kruger National Park, South Africa
Systematic conservation planning (including conservation planning exercise)
A landscape-scale approach to endangered species recovery
Conservation outside of protected areas
Managing with structured decision making
Ecological restoration
Addressing eco-anxiety and taking collective action at multiple scales
The conservation challenge of synthetic chemicals in the environment
Regulating synthetic chemicals in the environment: The importance of long-term data and legislation
Sustainability, part 2: achieving a sustainable world
Typical topics for student-led discussions:
The evolution of conservation and restoration objectives and values
“Decolonizing” conservation ecology
Ecosystem services and values
Extinction in context
Managing a flood of exotic species in Florida
Novel ecosystems
Climate change and forest conservation
Synthetic conservation
Parks and people
Global no net loss of natural ecosystems as a new objective
Linking restoration to ecosystem services (but who picks the services?)
How do we get a handle on synthetic chemicals? |