Time and Location; Spring Semester 2023
T Periods 7-8, 1:55 – 2:45 PM, 3:00 – 3:50 PM
Th Period 7, 1:55 – 2:45 PM
Description and Goals
Biogeography is the science that describes and explains spatial patterns of
biodiversity, and is core science in the understanding of human-environment interactions.
Biogeographers study distributions of organisms, both past and present, and how related patterns
of environmental variation influence the organisms. Recent new sciences of Landscape Ecology,
Macroecology, Global Ecology are extensions of or borrow significantly from Biogeography.
Biogeography is also an applied science in that biogeography theory is useful for designing
nature reserves, forecasting how climate change may affect organisms, and explaining human
adaptations to environmental variability. Very recent developments in Macrosystems Biology
and the completion of the National Ecological Observatory Network (NEON) have brought
Biogeography into the era of Big Data. This class will take a mostly ecological approach to
understanding biogeography
Homework
Six summaries of peer-reviewed scientific papers
Final Grades
Midterm Exam
Final Exam
Grading Scale
Grades assigned as: A > 92%; A- 90 – 91.9%; B+ 88 – 89.9%; B 82 – 87.9%; B- 80 – 81.9%; C+ 78 – 79.9%; C 70 – 77.9%; C- 68 – 69.9%; D+ 66 – 67.9%; D 60 – 65.9%; D- 58 – 59.9%; E < 58%
Attendance and Late Policy
Not Applicable