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.

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.

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.

Over the last decade or more, there has been a detectable and growing dissatisfaction among students with the "status quo" in the way the society works. Students have witnessed terrorism, long-term war, the "Occupy" movement, a "great recession," ongoing social inequities, disfunctional politics, the effects of climate change with challenging projections on its effects to come, and most recently, a global pandemic followed by inflation with a great impact on the economy.

The relationship of humans with non-human nature has been changing dramatically over the last several decades, particularly in the United States. The amount of time Americans spend outdoors in nature has been steadily declining since at least 1970 to an all-time low of just 3-5 hours per week. The so-called "nature connection' is being lost and, with it, so is society's capacity for environmental stewardship.

The Commonwealth Honors College thesis or project is intended to provide students with the opportunity to work closely with faculty members to define and carry out in-depth research or creative endeavors. It provides excellent preparation for students who intend to continue their education through graduate study or begin their professional careers. The student works closely with their 499Y Honors Research sponsor to pursue research on a topic or question of special interest to them in preparation for writing a 499T Honors Thesis or completing a 499P Honors Project.