Because of the breadth of fields covered by this program, there are no fixed courses required of all students other than IB 546A (and IB 546B for new first-year students).The goal is to allow maximum flexibility while providing close supervision. It is strongly recommended that you confer with your advisor regarding the courses which you should take.
The number of courses and the particular courses taken depend on the individual's previous training and knowledge. Courses and laboratory and field experiences are supplemented by other courses selected by the student. Please refer to the SIB Course listings for suggestions.
Doctoral students: You must complete at least 96 hours of 400- or 500-level courses (64 hours beyond the M.S. requirements) with grades no lower than B or S.
Terminal Master's students: By the end of the second year, you must complete 32 hours of course work in your three core areas with grades no lower than B or S. No more than 12 hours of research (590 or 599 courses) can be counted.
Individual Topics (590) or Thesis Research (599):
Doctoral students should be registered in IB 590 before your Prelim and then in 599 from the time of your Prelim until your Final Defense. Terminal Master's students need to register in at least one semester of 599, but may register in 599 for all terms.
Approved rubrics for 599 are BIOL, NRES, ENT or PBIO. Approval to count 599 courses in rubrics other than those listed above, must be granted through a petition. The CRNs used for IB 590 and the 599 courses are individual to your advisor, and sometimes the semester. Please contact the PEEC secretary (or the secretary of your advisor's department) to obtain the correct CRN. Note: The number in the Course Schedule is a generic number and is NOT the correct number to use.
Ecology
| Course ID | Course Description |
|---|---|
| ANTH 450 | Zooarchaeology: Study how animals fit into past human societies through the analysis of animal remains recovered from archaeological sites. |
| IB 431 | Behavioral Ecology: Areas of current interest at the interface of behavior, ecology, and evolution. |
| IB 439 | Biogeography: Spatial and temporal patterns of biological diversity and the factors that govern the distribution and abundance of taxa. |
| IB 444 | Insect Ecology: Practical and theoretical aspects of ecology in relation to insects as individuals, populations, and communities. |
| IB 452 | Ecosystem Ecology: Distribution and structure of ecosystems on earth; integration of multiple disciplines to gain a holistic view of ecosystem function; ecosystem concepts as they apply to understand natural and anthropogenic environmental change. Offered in alternate years. |
| IB 453 | Community Ecology: The direct and indirect interactions among species that determine the structure and composition of plant and animal communities. Emphasis will be on the maintenance of species diversity and its consequences at both local and regional scales. |
| IB 481 | Vector-borne Diseases: Study of the major groups of arthropods and associated pathogens that affect the health and well-being of humans and other animals. Training will include ecology, evolutionary biology, and epidemiology of vector-borne diseases; taxonomy and identification of vector arthropods; practical skills in molecular and mathematical biology, spatial analysis and field research. |
| IB 494 | Theoretical Biology + Models: Encode biological mechanisms into mathematical models, develop the skills to find solutions to these models and relate them to biological data. |
| NRES 407 | Wildlife Population Ecology: Application of principles of population biology to the analysis, management, and conservation of wildlife populations. |
| NRES 418 | Wetland Ecology & Management: Comprehensive examination of wetland science, management, and governance. |
| NRES 419 | Environment and Plant Ecosystems: Relationships between environmental factors and structural characteristics and processes in ecosystems; impact of human activities on the environment and their effect on plant ecosystems. |
| NRES 420 | Restoration Ecology: Historical development of ecological restoration, its philosophical foundation, multi-disciplinary borrowings from the natural, applied, and social sciences, and varied practical applications, with an emphasis on the application of ecological principles. |
| NRES 436 | Applied Soil Ecology: Reviews the underlying concepts, theory, and application of modern soil ecology. Students will study the groups of organisms that form the soil food web, the factors that influence their spatial and temporal distribution, and their role in soil function and delivery of ecosystem services. |
| NRES 465 | Landscape Ecology: Introduction to the theory, methods, and application of landscape ecology, with an emphasis on characterizing heterogeneity and examining its consequences for ecological processes across a variety of spatial and temporal scales. |
| NRES 485 | Stream Ecology: Relates the structure and function of streams and rivers to challenges and opportunities in their conservation, management, and restoration using a combination of readings and class discussions. |
| NRES 595 | Advanced Quantitative Techniques for Ecology and Conservation: Learn about the tools researchers and managers use to address questions in population ecology and conservation. |
Evolution and Systematics
| Course ID | Course Description |
|---|---|
| ANTH 407 | Evolutionary Immunology: Animal immune system physiology and function in the context of evolutionary and anthropological theory and research. |
| ANTH 441 | Human Genetics: Principles of human genetics; anthropological aspects of race and race formation; and hereditary and environmental factors in the biological variation of modern humans. |
IB 506 | Applied Bioinformatics: Introduction to theoretical and applied aspects of bioinformatics. Topics include genomic and proteomic databases, predictive methods in DNA sequence, biomolecular structure and its prediction, molecular evolution and phylogenetic reconstruction, structural genomics and phylogenomics. |
IB 478 | Advanced Plant Genetics: Contemporary topics in plant genetics and genomics, including the nature of genes and genomes, crop domestication, selection, allelic diversity in populations, and genetics mapping. Serves as an introduction to functional genomics, population genetics, transmission genetics, quantitative genetics, and bioinformatics. |
| IB 405 | Evolution of Traits and Genomes: Study of the evolution of phenotypic traits and genetics of natural populations, stressing empirical observations and experiments. Emphasis on recent theories of genotype/environmental interactions and their relationship to evolutionary processes. Offered in alternate years. |
| IB 407 | Plant Diversity and Evolution: Surveys the 500-million year evolutionary history of terrestrial plants, from the earliest spore-producing land plants to the “abominable mystery” of flowering plant evolution. Introduction to phylogenetic principles and methods for identifying, naming, and classifying plant diversity. |
| IB 416 | Population Genetics: Mathematical theory of the genetics of populations. |
| IB 426 | Environmental and Evolutionary Physiology of Animals: Physiological adaptations of invertebrate and vertebrate animals to diverse aquatic and terrestrial environments. |
| IB 439 | Biogeography: Spatial and temporal patterns of biological diversity and the factors that govern the distribution and abundance of taxa. |
| IB 461 | Ornithology: Structure, function, ecology, behavior, and evolution of birds of the world. |
| IB 462 | Mammalogy: Classification, distribution, life history, evolution, and identification of mammals. |
| IB 463 | Ichthyology: Classification, anatomy, ecology, behavior, distribution, and evolution of fishes of the world. |
| IB 464 | Herpetology: Classification, diversity, structure, function, ecology, behavior, and evolution of amphibians and reptiles. |
| IB 467 | Principles of Systematics: Comprehensive survey of the theory and methodology of systematics as they are applied today to all groups of organisms. |
| IB 468 | Insect Classification and Evolution: Analytical survey of the classification and evolution of the orders and principal families of insects. |
| IB 471 | Fungal Diversity and Ecology: An introduction to the extraordinary diversity of fungi: from symbionts of lichens to decomposers and mycorrhizas and the pathogens of plants and animals. |
| IB 501 | Programming for Genomics: Learn to think algorithmically by constructing a biological hypothesis, and implementing or deploying code to test that hypothesis. |
| MCB 435 | Evolution of Infectious Disease: Explore the ecology and evolution principles that apply to viruses, microbial eukaryotes, archaea and bacteria. |
| PSYC 433 | Evolutionary Neuroscience: Current methods, tools, and progress in evolutionary biology and quantitative genetics of brain and behavior of vertebrates. |
Conservation Biology
| Course ID | Course Description |
|---|---|
| ANSC 406 | Zoo Animal Conservation Science: The conservation, physiology and management of exotic animal species in a captive setting. |
| IB 482 | Insect Pest Management: Study of the principles underlying the control of important insect pests of agriculture and of human and animal health. |
| IB 451 | Conservation Biology: Emphasis on the preservation of biological diversity and its evolutionary potential. |
| NRES 407 | Wildlife Population Ecology: Application of principles of population biology to the analysis, management, and conservation of wildlife populations. |
| NRES 409 | Fishery Ecol and Conservation: Ecological and conservation concepts are applied to fisheries management practices. |
| NRES 418 | Wetland Ecology & Management: Comprehensive examination of wetland science, management, and governance. |
| NRES 420 | Restoration Ecology: Historical development of ecological restoration, its philosophical foundation, multi-disciplinary borrowings from the natural, applied, and social sciences, and varied practical applications, with an emphasis on the application of ecological principles. |
| NRES 429 | Aquatic Ecosystem Conservation: Apply principles of aquatic ecology to a broad range of conservation issues. |
| NRES 474 | Soil Conservation and Management: Application of principles of soil conservation and management to the solution of land-use problems. |
| NRES 480 | Human-Wildlife Interactions: Describe human-wildlife interactions along a spectrum from conflict to coexistence and enhance capacity to overcome negative perceptions of wildlife and to improve outcomes during human-wildlife interactions. |
Tools
| Course ID | Course Description |
|---|---|
| CPSC 567 | Bioinformatics & Systems Biol: Addresses the need to manage and interpret the massive quantities of data generated by genomic research. |
| IB 467 | Principles of Systematics: Comprehensive survey of the theory and methodology of systematics as they are applied today to all groups of organisms. |
| GEOG 477 | Introduction to Remote Sensing: Fundamentals of energy-matter interaction mechanisms. |
| IB 494 | Theoretical Biology + Models: Encode biological mechanisms into mathematical models, develop the skills to find solutions to these models and relate them to biological data. |
| IB 501 | Programming for Genomics: Learn to think algorithmically by constructing a biological hypothesis, and implementing or deploying code to test that hypothesis. |
| IB 517 | Analysis of Biological Data in R: Students will review and master commonly used statistical techniques. The laboratory involves programming in R to create publication quality graphs, analyze/simulate/interpret data, and trouble-shooting code. |
| MCB 571 | Bioinformatics: Statistical methods used in the analysis of genomic data, organized around data types commonly found in biological experiments. |
| NRES 421 | Quantitative Methods in NRES: Fundamental principles, procedures, and practices that underlie the most common statistical and sampling methods used in natural resources and environmental sciences. This course covers hypothesis testing, regression, and analysis of variance, along with sampling theory and experimental design. |
| NRES 454 | Geographical Information Systems in Natural Resource Mgmt: GIS software and computers are used to demonstrate the utility of techniques for data acquisition, image processing, and map modeling. |
| NRES 593 | Statistical Methods in Ecology: Focuses on statistical methods used to analyze ecological data. Includes application of general and generalized linear models including use of several probability distributions such as normal, binomial, Poisson, and negative binomial. |
| NRES 598 DSE | Data Skills for Env Sci: Offers essential skills in organizing, managing, cleaning, analyzing, and archiving quantitative data for reproducible and exploratory research. |
| NRES 598 MSE | Multivariate Stats for Ecology: Overview of multivariate data analyses commonly used in ecology and environmental sciences. Topics include ecologically relevant transformations of multivariate data, classification, ordination, statistical tests for difference between groups, and follow-up tests to identify influential variables. |
| PATH 517 | Principle/Method Epidemiology: Theoretical and applied epidemiology, with examples from veterinary and human medicine. |
| PATH 530 | Microbiome Analysis: Students will explore the mechanisms through which the microbiome contributes to health and will become familiar with the molecular, computational, and statistical tools and methodologies used to interrogate microbiome function and composition. |
Block Reference
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