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Biol 327 - Ecology and People

Instructor: Dr. Tim Karels, Department of Biology, California State University - Northridge. email: karels@csun.edu

Ecology and People is about the interrelationships between us as humans and natural biological and physical systems from local to global scales. During our evolutionary history, the natural environment has shaped who and what we are just as it has for every other species on the planet. We continue to interact with the natural environment for our own survival but as a species, we are unprecedented in our ability to manipulate the environment for our benefit as well as to our detriment. The better we understand our relationship with nature, the better we will be able to anticipate the consequences of our actions and to make informed choices on which human actions are most desirable for the long-term health of human societies and natural ecosystems.

Topics Covered

1. The science of ecology and evolution - understanding the relationships among organisms and with their environment and how these relationships influence the diversity of traits, biological processes and species.

2. Biodiversity - What is it and why is it important?

3. Climate - The natural processes that determine climate, climate cycles and fluctuations.

4. Ecosystems - the cycling of natural resources, ecological efficiency, and ecosystem capital. Why are ecosystems important to people?

5. Population growth in organisms - What controls how fast natural populations grow and what prevents natural populations of organisms from overpopulating the earth?

6. Population growth in humans - What are the limits to population growth in humans? How do social and economics factors influence birth and death rates of humans? How does resource consumption lead to the collapse of societies.

7. Marine ecosystems and their interrelationships to people. Why are the world's fisheries collapsing?

8. Global climate change (I) - The contribution of humans to global climate change.

9. Global climate change (II) - The effects of climate change on socio-economic and natural systems. How will we adapt?

10. Habitat loss and fragmentation and the nature of wildlife reserves.

11. Species invasions. What makes a good invader and what makes a good place to invade? What are the consequences of intentional and accidental introductions of species to new areas?

10. Feeding a hungry world - social, technical and ecological factors determining food production.

11. Pollution - the alteration of natural chemical processes in ecosystems (e.g. pesticides and herbicides, eutrophication, and the love and hate relationship with ozone)

12. The ecology of infectious diseases (e.g. malaria, cholera, HIV).

13. Environmental economics - What are the costs of production to human health and ecosystem services? How do we incorporate these costs into our measures of economic performance?

14. Environmental Policy - the creation and modifications of the endangered species act as a case example.

15. What's in store for the future? What are the decisions that we will need to face? Can technology solve all our problems?

General Education Fulfillment

BIOL327 Ecology and People is 3 units and fulfills the following requirements for the General Education Program (GE). There are no prerequisites.

1. Subject Explorations: meets the 3 units required for Lifelong Learning

2. Information Competence (IC): meets the requirement for one IC course to be taken in Subject Explorations

3. Writing Intensive and Upper Division GE: meets 3 of 9 units to be at 300-level or above, all of which are designated Writing Intensive (WI).

Readings

Supplemental readings on environmental issues will be from current articles and selected essays. These will be distributed in class or to your CSUN email account.

Evaluation

Evaluation is based on:

1. Two exams (Midterm 32% Wed. March 11, 13:00-14:45 and Final 32% Mon. May 11, 12:45-14:45) for 64%

2. Three written essays on environmental issues (3 at 12% each) for 36%