This course will provide students with a broad understanding of the ecology, evolution, and natural history of vertebrate life including mammals, birds, reptiles, amphibians, and fishes. The labs will be focused on gaining hands-on experience in typical methods and techniques for sampling live vertebrates in the wild.

This course will provide students with a broad understanding of the ecology, evolution, and natural history of vertebrate life including mammals, birds, reptiles, amphibians, and fishes. The labs will be focused on gaining hands-on experience in typical methods and techniques for sampling live vertebrates in the wild.

Restoration ecology is the returning of damaged ecosystems or particular properties of a desired state of ecological health. For purposes of this course, this field can be divided into four topics: 1) remediation of damaged sites where no return to original conditions is possible (e.g. strip-mined sites), 2) restoration of missing natural processes (fire, flood cycles, etc.), 3) return of missing native species or protection of declining native species, and 4) elimination or management of damaging invasive species.

Contact department for description.

Over the past 20 years, Massachusetts has sustained itself as a leader in clean energy policy, which has led to market development, job and economic growth, and reductions in greenhouse gas and other emissions. This course will provide direct insights into the brief history of these policy developments, including policy objectives, legislative and regulatory activities, tradeoffs of costs and benefits, analytical methods to establish program design, and stakeholder perspectives and engagement.

Food systems, sovereignty, and security remain issues of concern for producers, consumers, and policymakers at the dawn of the 21st Century, despite significant advances in transportation and technology. This course addresses these concerns by approaching food, the environment, and sustainability from an environmental anthropology perspective?critically examining the relationship between what we eat and who we are. Over the course of the semester, we will compare past, present, and future food systems in the United States with those in other parts of the world.

Use of forests to meet multiple objectives. Summary of forest history, policies, programs and review of traditional and contemporary forest management principles and practices. Case examples, site visits and reports, interaction with practitioners and landowners, term project and presentation.

Use of forests to meet multiple objectives. Summary of forest history, policies, programs and review of traditional and contemporary forest management principles and practices. Case examples, site visits and reports, interaction with practitioners and landowners, term project and presentation.

Silvicultural practices used to manage forests for timber production, wildlife habitat, and watershed protection. Special focus on southern New England, but techniques apply to forests throughout the world. Lab: developing silvicultural plans for project areas. Prerequisites: one course in ecology, and one course in plant identification.

Silvicultural practices used to manage forests for timber production, wildlife habitat, and watershed protection. Special focus on southern New England, but techniques apply to forests throughout the world. Lab: developing silvicultural plans for project areas. Prerequisites: one course in ecology, and one course in plant identification.