Spring 2027

Conservation Biology

Conservation Biology explores the science of protecting nature and preserving biodiversity, examining biological and socioeconomic factors underlying conservation challenges and impacts from an interdisciplinary perspective.

offering recorded3 credits
Recorded instructors · Spring 2027 Catherine Woodward3.7/5

Summary

1 / 3

Recent recorded grades — Fall 2025: 3.72 GPA, 84.4% A/AB (n=45 letter grades); Spring 2026: 3.55 GPA, 70.2% A/AB (n=47 letter grades).

What you’ll be able to do

  • Distinguish conservation biology from other scientific disciplines and describe its over-arching principles.

  • Articulate many reasons why the conservation of biological diversity (at many levels) is important.

  • Quantify biodiversity at the individual, population, and species level by applying various commonly used models and indices.

  • Explain orally and in writing the principal threats to biodiversity, to both scientific and layperson audiences (habitat loss and fragmentation; industrial agriculture; climate change; overexploitation; invasive species; pollution) and the specific biological effects of these threats.

  • Outline strategies to implement at the personal, local, and global scales for solving the biodiversity crisis.

  • Critically analyze, apply, and communicate recommendations for changing personal behaviors to mitigate the biodiversity and climate crises.

  • Assess the strengths and weaknesses of various conservation strategies or policy approaches.

  • Synthesize multiple investigations of conservation strategies to assess trade‐offs and synergies among them.

  • Make science‐based recommendations for the appropriate conservation approach or strategy for a given situation.

  • Manipulate quantitative data using multi-step arguments to evaluate, interpret, and express solutions to problems in biodiversity estimation, population monitoring, and genetics in the context of conservation.

Source: UW Guide 1 UW Guide 2 UW Guide 3 UW Guide 4

Grade history

↗
average GPA
letter grades
A
AB
B
BC
C
D
F

All recorded terms · compare terms & instructors

Prerequisites

Course map

Satisfied Quantitative Reasoning (QR) A and ZOOLOGY/​BIOLOGY/​BOTANY 152,BOTANY/​BIOLOGY 130,ZOOLOGY/​BIOLOGY 101,BIOCORE 381, or graduate/professional standing

BOTANY/ENVIRST/F&WECOL/ZOOLOGY 516

This is a best-effort interpretation; check the catalog requirements above.

Prerequisite text tree

Professors

Spring 2027

Catherine Woodward

Adjusted rating
RMP difficulty
captured reviews
About this rating

Raw average: 3.75/5 from 16 quality ratings. The adjusted rating blends this with the UW review average (3.66/5), weighted as 20 additional ratings. Smaller samples stay closer to that average. Each captured review is counted once in the prior; this does not correct who chooses to leave a review.

RMP profile ↗ · All captured review dates; profile matched by name.

Recent recorded grades — Fall 2025: 3.72 GPA, 84.4% A/AB (n=45 letter grades); Spring 2026: 3.55 GPA, 70.2% A/AB (n=47 letter grades). Includes jointly taught sections.

Historical instructors & teaching patterns

CATHERINE WOODWARD is recorded teaching in Fall 2025, Spring 2026. Recorded history may be incomplete and does not establish a future schedule.

Recorded history may be incomplete and does not establish a future schedule.

Calendar & sections

Spring 2027

Schedule loads here as you scroll.

SectionModeEnrolled / capacityWaitlist
LEC 001Classroom Instruction0 / 480
LEC 001Classroom Instruction0 / 480
LEC 001Classroom Instruction0 / 480
LEC 001Classroom Instruction0 / 480

Times are Central. Select a meeting for details; export includes recorded dates for the selected sections. Enrollment reflects scan time.

Meeting source records
Download part 1

Student experience

the class

Recent recorded grades — Fall 2025: 3.72 GPA, 84.4% A/AB (n=45 letter grades); Spring 2026: 3.55 GPA, 70.2% A/AB (n=47 letter grades).

difficulty & workload

No workload feedback recorded.

Topics

  • Theory, research, and application of biological conservation
  • Principal threats to biodiversity including habitat loss, climate change, and invasive species
  • Assessment of trade-offs and synergies among conservation strategies

Skills

  • Quantify biodiversity using models and indices
  • Outline conservation strategies at multiple scales
  • Make science-based conservation recommendations

Grades

Latest available · Spring 2026— not enough history to project Spring 2027.

average GPA
A / AB grades
letter grades
Instructor

Grade distribution · % of letter grades

A
AB
B
BC
C
D
F

Grades over time

Through Spring 2026

More grade details Grade mix, volume & source data

Where this course fits relative to

Latest available grades · Spring 2026 · all course levels

GPA

Higher than % of other courses in this group.

Course GPAs · red marks this course’s range

letter grades

More recorded grades than % of other courses in this group.

Typical course in this group: letter grades.

About this comparison

1280 courses over the same term, each with at least 30 recorded letter grades. Cross-listed courses count once. GPA is not a measure of difficulty or teaching quality. The typical course is the median by recorded grade count; tied values are not counted as lower. Grade counts describe course scale, not unique students or typical section size.

Descriptions compare GPA with this group’s average: at least 0.20 higher or lower; otherwise close to average. Section size uses median recorded enrollment: small up to 30, mid-sized 31–99, large 100+. Lectures and discussion/lab sections are described separately.

Sources & history

UW–Madison

Catalog & offerings

Descriptions, prerequisites, and recorded course offerings.

Catalog observation history

Observations at scan time; dates do not imply when a catalog change took effect.

Download part 1
Selected offering source records
BOTANY/ENVIRST/F&WECOL/ZOOLOGY 516 · Spring 2027

Conservation Biology

Recorded 2026-10-14
BOTANY/ENVIRST/F&WECOL/ZOOLOGY 516 · Spring 2027

Conservation Biology

Recorded 2026-10-14
BOTANY/ENVIRST/F&WECOL/ZOOLOGY 516 · Spring 2027

Conservation Biology

Recorded 2026-10-14
BOTANY/ENVIRST/F&WECOL/ZOOLOGY 516 · Spring 2027

Conservation Biology

Recorded 2026-10-14
Raw records 
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Madgrades

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Dataset & model

Recorded 2026-10-14

View the dataset on Hugging Face
Model outputs & technical records
Qwen/Qwen3.8-27B
LLM outputs across runs
Download part 1
Full model traces

Recorded model configuration, reasoning, and tool conversations.

Download part 1
Model & dataset provenance 
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  "model_revision": "1d4bf0f2ff6012fd82039f2fa52739d0dd7c60c0",
  "task_version": "17",
  "output_id": "8d2f11d12da204202c96371bc4b5a639328d0ed91b01c8a1f2b48a23f0bd9352",
  "requirements_status": "needs_review",
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