3.00 Credits
Conservation ecology is an integrated science based primarily on ecology, with important contributions from genetics, evolution, biogeography, sociology, economics, and political science. The course will address definitions, origins, and patterns of biological diversity, explore why the maintenance of biodiversity in native and human dominated ecosystems is fundamentally important to the continued well-being of humans and other species, and examine the context and causes of extinction and strategies for preventing or ameliorating the loss of biodiversity