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.

Additional Requirements for Graduate Students:
For the individual project, graduate students will be expected to conduct an analysis or synthesis that constitutes a novel scientific contribution reported in a final paper of 3500-6000 words. Graduate students will provide peer review of each other’s draft papers and of undergraduate draft papers. Graduate students will take turns leading the discussions with undergraduate assistance.

---

Athena Title

Integr Conserv Sust

---

Prerequisite

(ECOL 3500 and ECOL 3500L) or (ECOL 3505H and ECOL 3505L)

---

Semester Course Offered

Offered fall

---

Grading System

A - F (Traditional)

---

Student learning Outcomes

• Students will understand the ecological, economic, and ethical principles underlying conservation biology.
• Students will 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.
• Students will discuss the challenges and controversies of conservation biology, including historical inequities and racism, environmental justice, and the challenges of community-based conservation.
• Students will 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
• The conservation challenge of synthetic chemicals in the environment
• Addressing eco-anxiety and taking collective action at multiple scales
• 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?

---

Institutional Competencies Learning Outcomes

Analytical Thinking

The ability to reason, interpret, analyze, and solve problems from a wide array of authentic contexts.

Social Awareness & Responsibility

The capacity to understand the interdependence of people, communities, and self in a global society.

---

Syllabus

Select Faculty / Instructor to download syllabus:   Pringle, Catherine   Wenger, Seth   Wenger, Seth

---