Biodiversity

For non-science or science majors; not for Biology major credit. This course will explore the evolution, extinction, and conservation of biodiversity on earth. We will survey the diversity of both ecosystems and organisms found throughout the globe. The generation of biodiversity will be explained by both ecological and genetic approaches to evolution. The loss of biodiversity due to historic extinctions and current human activity will be examined. We will use examples from all over the world, but will focus on many examples from New England and Massachusetts. One section will survey the history of wildlife in Massachusetts since European colonization. (Gen.Ed. BS)