Courses

This course provides an introduction to ecology, covering interactions between organisms and the environment at scales of populations, communities, and ecosystems. Ecological principles are used to explore the theory and applications of major issues facing humanity in the 21st century, including population dynamics, disease ecology, biodiversity and invasive species, global change, and other topics of environmental sustainability.

Full details for BIOEE 1610 - Introductory Biology: Ecology and the Environment

Considers explanations for pattern of diversity and the apparent good fit of organisms to the environment. Topics include the diversity of life, the genetics and developmental basis of evolutionary change, processes at the population level, evolution by natural selection, modes of speciation, long-term trends in evolution, origin of humans.

Full details for BIOEE 1780 - An Introduction to Evolutionary Biology and Diversity

Full details for BIOEE 2527 - Neotropical Wildlife Biology

Provides students with the opportunity to study birds intensively in a neotropical environment. Students learn observational and field techniques, formulate and participate in group research projects.

Full details for BIOEE 2642 - Analysis and Interpretation of Bird Observations

Introductory course in vertebrate organismal biology that explores the anatomy and function of vertebrates with an emphasis on trends in vertebrate evolution. Lectures cover topics such as the origin, anatomy, physiology, and evolution of various vertebrate groups, with a focus on organ systems (such as the nervous, circulatory, and respiratory systems), life history, locomotion, behavior, and conservation.  This course prepares students for advanced courses on the biology of fishes, amphibians and reptiles, birds, and mammals; pre-vet and pre-med students benefit from its comparative anatomical approach to understanding the organization of the vertebrate body.

Full details for BIOEE 2740 - The Vertebrates: Comparative Anatomy, Function, and Evolution

Focuses on field methods used to study marine organisms and ecosystems in efforts to sustain them in the face of many environmental challenges. Introduces students to modern techniques of marine-ecosystems research, including bioacoustics, ecological survey methods, and experimental marine ecology. This course is field and laboratory intensive with students engaged in hands-on, active learning that takes advantage of local resources.

Full details for BIOEE 3510 - Conservation Oceanography

Introductory survey of the development, computer implementation, and applications of dynamic models in biology and ecology. Case-study format covering a broad range of current application areas such as regulatory networks, neurobiology, cardiology, infectious disease management, and conservation of endangered species. Students also learn how to construct and study biological systems models on the computer using a scripting and graphics environment.

Full details for BIOEE 3620 - Dynamic Models in Biology

Why are chilies so spicy? This course examines the chemical basis of interactions between species and is intended for students with a basic knowledge of chemistry and biology. Focuses on the ecology and chemistry of plants, animals, and microbes. Stresses chemical signals used in diverse ecosystems, using Darwinian natural selection as a framework. Topics include plant defenses, microbial warfare, communication in marine organisms, and human pheromones.

Full details for BIOEE 3690 - Chemical Ecology

This course is an introduction to CT visualization for its applications in comparative biology of the vertebrates. Students will learn and practice the exploration of vertebrate anatomy with OSIRIX 3-D visualization software or its future replacement; work on student-designed projects and/or a large survey of the vertebrates based on CT scans from specimens in the Cornell museum as well as the Smithsonian and other museums around the world.            

Full details for BIOEE 3780 - Computerized Tomography of Vertebrates

How do plants respond to antagonists, such as herbivores and pathogens? What are the checks and balances that keep mutualist organisms in their tight interactions? How are symbioses organized on molecular, metabolic and ecological levels? What are the molecular, plant hormonal, and metabolic mechanisms mediating plant biotic interactions with other organisms? What ecological and evolutionary consequences do these interactions have for the fitness of the plants and their interactors? This course provides an overview of plants' myriad interactions with antagonists and mutualists, from microbes to multicellular organisms, and explains the underlying ecological and evolutionary concepts. It gives an introduction to the study of induced plant responses in the light of a behavioral biology framework.            

Full details for BIOEE 4460 - Plant Behavior and Biotic Interactions, Lecture

Laboratory course covering topics presented in BIOEE 4460/BIONB 4460/PLSCI 4460.

Full details for BIOEE 4461 - Plant Behavior and Biotic Interactions, Laboratory

Advanced course in evolutionary biology focusing on the pattern and process of speciation and the nature and origin of behavioral, morphological, physiological, and ecological traits that form the intrinsic barriers to gene exchange. Lecture topics include species concepts and definitions, the history of ideas about speciation, the biological basis of intrinsic barriers to gene exchange, current models for the origin of such barriers, genetic architecture of speciation, rates of speciation. Emphasis is on developing a rigorous conceptual framework for discussing speciation and on detailed analysis of a series of case histories.

Full details for BIOEE 4530 - Speciation: Genetics, Ecology, and Behavior

Limnology is the study of fresh waters (and other inland, nonmarine environments). This course focuses on lakes and ponds as aquatic environments with distinct terrestrial boundaries where the interactions between organisms are often strong and adaptations to the aquatic environment easily recognized. Physical (light, temperature, and mixing) and chemical (dissolved elements and compounds) properties of lakes affect organisms in important ways, and lake organisms, likewise, influence the physical and chemical properties of their environment. Lakes are exciting environments for study in their own right and for gaining perspective on ecological and evolutionary processes in general.

Full details for BIOEE 4570 - Limnology: Ecology of Lakes, Lectures

Lectures cover various aspects of the biology of amphibians and reptiles, including evolution, zoogeography, ecology, behavior, and physiology.

Full details for BIOEE 4700 - Herpetology, Lectures

Laboratory topics include systematics, morphology, and behavior.

Full details for BIOEE 4701 - Herpetology, Laboratory

Examines ecosystem structure, carbon and energy flow, and nutrient cycles, and contrasts terrestrial and aquatic systems. Reviews classic ecosystem experiments, and considers anthropogenic effects on ecosystems, such as from acid precipitation, fossil fuel combustion, nitrogen pollution, and climate change.

Full details for BIOEE 4780 - Ecosystem Biology and Global Change

Surveys the major groups of invertebrate organisms and their evolutionary histories, and the theoretical and practical principles of paleontology, from biostratigraphy to macroevolution. Intended to fill out the biological backgrounds of Earth and atmospheric science students concerning the nature and significance of the fossil record for their respective studies, and the paleontological backgrounds of biology students interested in ecology and evolution.

Full details for BIOEE 4790 - Paleobiology

Special offering of Ecological Genetics. The standard Ecological Genetics course focuses on the application of population genetic concepts in ecological or applied contexts, with emphases on measuring adaptation in natural populations, detecting the effects of population demography, and determining the genetic basis of quantitative traits. In this special offering, the contextual examples will be related to host-microbe interactions and the establishment and spread of infectious disease in natural populations of animals and plants. Illustrative examples will be drawn from the primary research literature to demonstrate experimental techniques and methods of data analysis on single-gene, multi-locus and genome-wide scales. Although the examples used class will focus on infection, resistance, and host-pathogen co-evolution, the experimental and methodological approaches can also be applied to other ecologically relevant traits and processes.

Full details for BIOEE 4800 - Ecological Genetics of Infection and Disease

The research apprenticeship aims to teach students critical hands-on research skills and team-building in a closely mentored environment. This research apprenticeship in a field marine setting will be based at Friday Harbor Laboratories in the San Juan Islands, Washington. Research-intensive field work provides students with a life-changing experience that cannot be replicated in even the best university laboratory, and that is especially true for Cornell students interested in ocean and marine life. The project planned is Climate Change and Health of Seagrass. It will involve field research to survey health of a range of the rich, but declining sea grass beds around the San Juans. Students will test the general hypothesis that a pathogen, Labyrinthula zosterae, is part of the cause of the decline. Students will bring samples back to the lab and learn methods of assaying health of blades and isolating the causative microorganism. They will perform PCR tests to identify the L zosterae and perform a test of Koch's postulates. They will have an opportunity to run experiments in Friday Harbor's Ocean Acidification Center. They will use the R statistics package to analyze their data and craft it into a paper. The research apprenticeship course will be supported by 2 additional courses that will teach the biota of the San Juan islands and ecology of sea grass beds.

Full details for BIOEE 4920 - Special Topics in Ocean Biodiversity: Ocean Biodiversity Research Apprenticeship

The course will take advantage of the species diversity of marine invertebrates in the Salish Sea of the Pacific Northwest, the huge variation in easily accessible field habitats and the excellent research-oriented facilities of Friday Harbor Laboratories. Like BIOEE 3730 - [Biodiversity and Biology of the Marine Invertebrates], the course will be a survey of phyletic diversity of all the marine invertebrates but will be more in depth in exploring class and order-level diversity within each phylum. The excellent running seawater facilities in each laboratory will allow detailed behavioral and morphological observation of different invertebrates. Students will be exposed to lectures and labs focused on each group and be responsible for weekly video summaries and notebook recordings of their observations.

Full details for BIOEE 4930 - Marine Invertebrate Biodiversity

The department offers "trial" courses or seminars under this number. Offerings vary by semester and are advertised by the department before the semester starts. Courses offered under this number will be approved by the Biological Sciences Curriculum Committee, and the same course is not to be offered more than twice under this number.

Full details for BIOEE 4940 - Special Topics in Ecology and Evolutionary Biology

Designed to give qualified undergraduate students teaching experience through actual involvement in planning and assisting in biology courses. This experience may include supervised participation in a discussion group, assisting in a biology laboratory, assisting in field biology, or tutoring.

Full details for BIOEE 4980 - Teaching Experience

Graduate-level discussion of the ecology, epidemiology, genetics, and evolution of infectious disease in animal and plant systems. Weekly discussion of research papers published in the primary scientific literature. Participation in discussion and presentation of at least one paper required for course credit.

Full details for BIOEE 6900 - Seminar in Ecology and Evolution of Infectious Diseases

Examines the role of space for individuals, populations and communities in ecology. Each weekly meeting will be a discussion based on journal articles and book chapters. General topics will be individual movement, dispersal, range; observation scale, spatial synchrony; landscape ecology; habitat fragmentation: (meta) population dynamics, population genetics and evolution; species interactions and community structure; climate change, invasion, extinction and conservation.

Full details for BIOEE 7570 - Seminar in Spatial Population Ecology

Independent or group-intensive study of special topics of current interest. Content varies each semester.

Full details for BIOEE 7600 - Special Topics in Evolution and Ecology

Group intensive study of current research in plant-insect interactions. Topics vary from semester to semester but include chemical defense, coevolution, insect community structure, population regulation, biocontrol, tritrophic interactions, and mutualism.

Full details for BIOEE 7640 - Plant-Insect Interactions Seminar

Thesis research conducted by an M.S. student in the field of ecology and evolutionary biology with advice and consultation of a major professor who is a member of the field.

Full details for BIOEE 8990 - M.S. Thesis Research

Dissertation research conducted by a Ph.D. student in the field of ecology and evolutionary biology with advice and consultation of a major professor who is a member of the field.

Full details for BIOEE 9990 - Ph.D. Dissertation Research