BIOL 297 - Spring-Term Topics in Biology

Credits: 4
Planned Offering: Spring

BIOL 297-01: Field Botany (4). An entirely outdoor course in which students learn to identify vascular plants using professional “floras” of the upper Shenandoah Valley watershed The conservation biology of many of these plants is discussed focusing upon alien invasive and rare plants of the upper Chesapeake Bay watershed. With no formal lectures in the course, students work with the group to identify plants as each student accumulates an annotated reference collection (a herbarium) of plants. The class reads and discusses several professional papers dealing with conservation problems caused by alien plants and the conservation ecology of rare plants. (SL) Knox. Spring 2011 only

BIOL 297-02: Conservation Biology (4). No prerequisite. Not open to students with credit for BIOL 398: Biodiversity and Conservation. An interdisciplinary approach to the study, management, and protection of the Earth’s biological diversity (biodiversity). This course helps explain why the protection of biodiversity is important and how conservation biologists work to accomplish their goals. Throughout the course, students explore the complex relationships that exist between our own species and wildlife throughout the world. The required and optional reading material help students better understand the range of threats to wildlife today. Problem-solving in group activities and detailed assessment of case studies introduce students to the difficult task of finding solutions to these threats that can provide wildlife conservation in a way that is also beneficial (or at least not harmful) to humans. (SC) Wallis. Spring 2011 only