Curriculum

GDPE Curriculum (download as pdf)

COURSE	SEM	COURSE TITLE	MS	PHD
			Required Credits	Required Credits
ECOL505	F	Foundations of Ecology	2	2
Group A		Organism/Population	3	3 to 6
ECOL600	S	Population and Community Ecology		(total of A+B
BZ526	F	Evolutionary Ecology		must be > 9)
BZ530	S	Ecological Plant Morphology
BZ535	S	Behavioral Ecology
BZ548	F	Theory of Population and Evolutionary Ecology
BZ555	F	Reproductive Biology of Higher Plants
BZ578	F	Genetics of Natural Population
BSPM570	F	Chemical Ecology
FW544	S	Ecotoxicology
FW662	S	Wildlife Population Dynamics
Group B		Community/Ecosystem	3	3 to 6
ECOL610	F	Ecosystem Ecology		(total of A+B
ECOL600*	S	Population and Community Ecology		must be > 9)
ECOL620	F	Applications in Landscape Ecology
BZ561	F	Landscape Ecology
FW555	F	Conservation Biology
FW540	S	Fisheries Ecology
F624	S	Fire Ecology
NR660	S	Biogeochemical Cycling
RS630	F	Ecology of Grasslands and Shrublands
RS578	S	Ecology of Disturbed Lands
ATS760	S	Global Carbon Cycle
Group C		Quantitative Tools	6	9
BZ548	F	Theory of Population and Evolutionary Ecology
FW663	S	Sampling and Analysis of Vertebrate Populations
NR575	S	Systems Ecology
NR523/STAT523	S	Quantitative Spatial Statistics
STAT511	F	Design & Data Analysis for Researchers I
STAT512	S	Design & Data Analysis for Researchers II
STAT544	S	Biostatistical Methods for Quantitative Data
		GIS and remote sensing -- any course 500+
ECOL571.001-2	S	Distinguished Ecologist Lecture Series	2	2
ECOL592 V	F, S	Interdisciplinary Seminars in Ecology	1	2
ECOL693	S	Research Seminar	1	1

*ECOL600 can be used to meet either Group A or B, but not both.

The curriculum consists of 6-7 credits of required courses (PhD students are required to take one more credit than MS students) and three distribution lists (Groups A, B, & C) from which students must select courses. The required courses are in bold. The distribution lists contain suggestions for appropriate courses, not complete lists. Other courses that fit within these categories may be taken to satisfy the credit requirement. This approach ensures that all students have a fundamental background in ecology while also permitting them to tailor a program to their interests. No specific distribution of ecology courses beyond the required courses is expected by GDPE; the appropriate course work is determined by the student, advisor, and committee.