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

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 1781 - Introduction to Evolution and Diversity

This course has three broad themes centered on natural history collections: 1) understanding the values and perceived controversies of scientific collections, 2) learning diverse methods of specimen collection and preparation, and 3) making specimens accessible to the public through outreach with community partners. Students will be introduced to all four vertebrate collections housed at the CUMV and discuss the ethical dilemmas inextricably connecting to scientific collecting. Students will participate in a 1-week collecting trip over spring break, where they learn diverse techniques of specimen collecting and preparation. Finally, students will work with the Cornell Lab of Ornithology and/or the Cayuga Nature Center in creative ways that ultimately inform the public about the value of natural history collections.

Full details for BIOEE 2001 - Bringing Specimens to Life: Using Natural Hist Collections to Engage Communities in Science Outreach

This on-campus and international field course combination provides participating students with a broad introduction to the research process in field ecology, with literature and hands-on examples drawn from the fauna and flora of coastal Patagonia (Argentina), an area that provides us with unprecedented access to both marine and terrestrial wildlife as well as exposure to conservation challenges and success stories. The course begins in the latter part of the Fall semester (BIOEE 2525) when it meets twice weekly for seven weeks, largely to discuss relevant papers from the scientific literature with an emphasis on best practices in designing field studies to address questions in Neotropical ecology, behavioral ecology, conservation, and evolutionary biology. During the 2+ week field component in January (BIOEE 2526), students travel among field sites in Patagonia and put this knowledge to work in an experiential context by designing and implementing a series of research projects, including numerous short 'blitz' projects and several longer, more intensive independent projects; many of these field studies involve close-hand observations of marine mammals, penguins, or other seabirds. The 7-week Spring semester component (BIOEE 2527) is focused on building skills in data analysis and scientific writing, based on the data collected in the field by each student.

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, Paleontology, 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

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 - Digital Morphology through CT

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

Detailed survey of the physiological approaches used to understand the relationships between organisms (plants and animals) and their environment. Lectures explore physiological adaptation; limiting factors; resource acquisition and allocation; photosynthesis, carbon, and energy balance; water use and water relations; nutrient relations; linking physiology, development, and morphology; stress physiology; life history and physiology; the evolution of physiological performance; and physiology at the population, community, and ecosystem levels. Readings draw from the primary literature and textbooks.

Full details for BIOEE 4660 - Physiological Ecology, Lectures

Detailed survey of the physiological approaches used in understanding the relationships between organisms and their environment with a focus on plants and vertebrate animals. Laboratories apply physiological techniques to specific ecological problems and cover aspects of experimental design and computer-aided data analysis.

Full details for BIOEE 4661 - Physiological Ecology, Laboratory

Multidisciplinary course dealing with the social and environmental impact of food production in the United States and developing countries. Agroecosystems of various kinds are analyzed from biological, economic, and social perspectives. The impacts of traditional, conventional, and alternative agricultural technologies are critically examined in the context of developed and developing economies. Specific topics include biodiversity and ecosystem services in agriculture, transgenic crops, biofuels, urban agriculture, and sustainable development.

Full details for BIOEE 4690 - Food, Agriculture, and Society

This course covers many aspects of avian biology, including ecology, behavior, evolution, anatomy, physiology, and conservation. This is an active learning-style offering in which students complete pre-class work through the Cornell Lab of Ornithology's Bird Academy online learning platform, and then engage in interactive activities and exercises during class periods. This course may be taken alone, or students can choose to enroll simultaneously in one or both of the associated laboratory classes, one of which parallels the BIOEE 4750 content and one of which focuses on a survey of worldwide avian diversity.

Full details for BIOEE 4750 - Ornithology, Lectures

This laboratory course covers many aspects of avian biology, including ecology, behavior, evolution, anatomy, physiology, and conservation. Some laboratory sessions will involve dissection of avian material, and the study of skeleton and scientific study skin specimens. Other sessions will involve outdoor activities including observations of avian behavior and demonstrations of standard ornithological field techniques, including methods of capturing, handling, and banding birds. BIOEE 4751 course must be taken simultaneously with BIOEE 4750.

Full details for BIOEE 4751 - Ornithology, Laboratory

This laboratory course provides an in-depth survey of the natural history and evolutionary relationships of all Orders and Families of living birds. All sessions will make extensive use of the avian specimen materials held in the Cornell University Museum of Vertebrates collections.

Full details for BIOEE 4752 - Ornithology, Worldwide Avian Diversity Laboratory

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

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 Hawaii and 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. 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

Group discussion on professional activities for academic ecologists and evolutionary biologists. Topics include: writing a CV, publication strategies, finding a postdoc, the tenure process, grant writing, manuscript reviews, networking, public speaking, and scientific collaboration.

Full details for BIOEE 7650 - Professional Development in Ecology and Evolutionary Biology

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