Search: Course, Environmental Science Policy and Management

A seminar course dealing with selected topics in ecology of rangelands

This course will cover major study design and analysis methods for biological field and lab studies. Students will be prepared for independent research and work in natural resource fields. Topics will include: * Linear regression*: single and multivariate * Analysis of variance*: single- and multi-factor; fixed and random effects; interactions * Common study design issues including blocked plots, split plots, repeated measures, and covariates * Power analysis * Maximum likelihood estimation and hypothesis testing * Generalized linear models * Possible other topics may be drawn from: non-parametric analysis; bootstrapping; model selection with Information Criteria; wildlife mark-recapture methods; and Bayesian methods Computer labs will focus on instruction and exercises in the R statistical programming language (equivalent to S-PLUS). Examples and exercises will use data from ecological population, community, ecosystem, behavioral, and/or evolutionary studies.

The course will consist of readings and discussions led by instructors, graduate students, and guest speakers covering topics on developing teaching skills relevant to an interdisciplinary environmental science program. Students will present brief lectures that will be taped and evaluated and will learn skills for evaluating success in conveying complex ideas to their own students.

Study and critical analysis of topics, research, and texts pertinent to environmental science, policy, and management. Different topics will be available each semester reflecting faculty and student interest.

Application of demographic methods to the management of plant and animal populations. Conservation problems faced by small populations of threatened or exploited species will be emphasized. Implications for life-history theory will also be discussed. Demographic analyses include (1) an understanding of life cycle diagrams, projection matrices, and age- and stage-based approaches; (2) calculation of population growth rate and sensitivity of demographic parameters to perturbation; and (3) advanced tehcniques of stochastic simulation modeling, spatial analyses, and population viability analyses will be learned.

Examine major issues and approaches in ecosystem management. Topics include development of the ecosystem approach, valuation of ecosystem commodities and services, assessment of ecosystem sustainability, simulation and prediction of ecosystem dynamics, decision-making methods, social and institutional aspects. Particular emphasis is given to emerging conceptual frameworks and analytical tools.

This course explores critical policy and theoretical questions in the governance of global production. Current trends in the restructuring of industrial production; distributions of environmental, labor, and social impacts from this production; and new strategies for democratic governance are analyzed, including corporate self-regulation, monitoring, certification and labeling, fair trade programs, legal strategies, and international accords and agreements.

Contemporary issues in international environmental politics; impacts of globalization on the environment; comparative transnational environmental movements. Study of current and historical texts. Case studies drawn from around the world with a focus on methods and research techniques.

This seminar in workshop format features current research of faculty and doctoral students investigating the application of economics, systems analysis, and environmental modeling techniques to the management of forest and wildland ecosystems. Organization of research presentations, the scientific publication process, and research funding issues will also be addressed.

This course will introduce the methods and theories of Science and Technology Studies (STS) in order to explore the relationships among science, technology, law, and politics in the domains of environment and health. The course will focus some attention on the tension between technocracy and democracy in science policy, and on the role of biotechnology in reshaping the natural and political order. The course will equip graduate students in the social sciences, law, life sciences, and public policy with theoretical and practical tools for analyzing complex problems at the science, technology, and society interface.