BIO 323 - Endangered Species Ecology (1)

This course is designed for students interested in learning about endangered species and their conservation. It is required for students majoring in ecology and evolutionary biology and/or in environmental science with an environmental biology concentration. This course investigates the biology and ecology of endangered specCies. Using case-studies and real-world examples, students will explore factors that contribute to species endangerment such as habitat degradation and loss, anthropogenic disturbance, unregulated hunting, natural and human-caused rarity, and ecological specialization. Students will learn how level of endangerment is assessed at the international, national, and state levels, and through training in this class, they will become certified in risk assessment by the IUCN. Students will also learn conservation management tools, such as population viability analysis (PVA) modeling to predict population persistence likelihood of species. Prerequisite(s): BIO 142, BIO 321
(Science)