ECCB/EEBL 600 – Populations, Communities, and Ecosystems (graduate, 3 credits).  [Syllabus] This course reviews the basic principles and methodologies of ecology and prepares graduate students to pursue advanced study in subfields such as population biology, community ecology, evolutionary ecology, and ecosystem science. Emphasis is placed on population, community, and ecosystem processes that also have significance and influence at landscape, regional and global scales as well as proximate to evolutionary time scales. Basic principles of ecology that are critical to biological conservation and sustainable use of ecosystems and renewable natural resources are reviewed.

ECCB 462 – Amazon River Tropical Biology (undergraduate, 3 credits). One-semester study abroad course that focuses on the natural history, ecology, evolutionary biology, geography, and culture of the Amazon River and Rio Negro, a massive black-water tributary. Students will discover the attributes of the world’s largest and most bio-diverse river basin during a 10-day expedition that embarks in early January from Manaus, Brazil. During this boat-based expedition, students will learn about tropical biology by surveying biota and recording observations about this unique ecosystem. Upon completion of the expedition, students will select research topics and develop presentations that will be reported to the class in weekly one-hour sessions during the spring semester.