ENVIRONMENTAL BIOGEOGRAPHY

ENVIRST 251

Ecology is the study of relationships in the natural world, many of which are increasingly being altered by human activities. These disruptions modify the environment on a global scale, affecting populations and communities of plants, animals, and other organisms, and making Earth increasingly inhospitable for life, including for humans. Explore the natural world and humans' role within it, as both instigators and managers of global environmental change.

BOTANY/ZOOLOGY 879

Emphasizes spatial patterning (its development and importance for ecological processes) and often focuses on large regions. Learn concepts, methods, and applications of landscape ecology.

GEOG 523

Geographic and temporal responses of plant species and terrestrial ecosystems to the major environmental changes of the last 1,000,000 to 1,000 years, particularly glacial-interglacial changes in climate, carbon dioxide, and the end-Pleistocene extinctions of large animals. Key concepts include novel and no-analog ecosystems, abrupt climate and ecological change, and megaherbivore-vegetation interactions. This time period is of direct interest to global change ecologists and biogeographers studying species responses to 21st-century climate change. Hands-on practice emphasizes multivariate data analysis and quantitative paleoecological inference.

BOTANY 250

Provides an overview of the geography, ecology, and economic importance of the world's forest biomes. Learn how climate influences vegetation and, in-turn, how forests impact global climate. Meet scientists working to understand the astounding biodiversity and ecological complexity of forest ecosystems, and how these ecosystems support human life. Discuss the threats to forest ecosystems around the world, and hear from the people trying to protect them. Emphasizes the forest resources and services upon which humans depend, and how we can maintain these resources into the future. Analyze the idea of "sustainability" when it comes to forest management, hear alternative viewpoints about what this word means, and discuss potential trade-offs and conflicts. Look at the many real-world programs in place at the global, national, and local level to sustainably manage forests.

BOTANY 422

Biogeography of plants. Relationship to climate and geology; paleobiogeography, historical biogeography and island biogeography; history and distribution of floras of North America and Wisconsin.