BIO322

We are living on what has been described by some as a “damaged planet.” Pollutants, ranging from tiny toxic particles to vast trash-filled gyres, unnatural disasters, unsustainable and unethical farming and fishing practices, the sixth mass extinction, and anthropogenic climate change have largely defined our current era. However, even in these treacherous times, filled with dystopian scenarios of apocalyptic devastation, new ecologies - relations - are formed. In this course, we look beyond the hopelessness to ask, what emergent ecologies are coming into being in the Anthropocene? Traversing the disciplines of conservation biology, ecology, ethology, geography, and anthropology, this course looks closely at the ideas of invasive species, extinction studies, and environmental management (among others) to examine what is living, even thriving, in uncertain times. Prerequisite: Any BIO195 and BIO 206