Ecosystems of California

In this field-oriented course, we will visit sites representative of diverse grassland, chaparral, scrub land, forest, desert, river, marsh, and intertidal ecosystems of California. We will spend up to three weeks studying one or two habitat types that occur at a given field site. Our first site will introduce students to the natural history and ecological patterns at sites. During a second meeting on campus, we will give a 1.5 hour lecture and lead a 2 hour discussion on ecological issues relevant to processes and patterns exemplified at a given site. Methods for field investigations will also be discussed and demonstrated. During our third meeting, we will revisit the site, and students will collect quantitative data that test hypotheses about processes influencing species distributions and abundances. Course requirements will include a research proposal in National Science Foundation format, that presents field results as seed data, develops a program for subsequent investigation of problems uncovered by preliminary results, and justifies the importance of the proposed research with discussions from the literature. A final oral presentation in a class symposium is required.