Nov 21, 2024  
2024-2025 Official General Catalog 
    
2024-2025 Official General Catalog

BIO 217 - Ecology of the National Parks


A biological survey of our National Park System concentrating on the variety of ways living organisms respond and adapt to meteorological, geological, and ecological pressure.

This course requires an extensive field experience in several National Parks as well as an additional course fee.

Prerequisite- Corequisite
Prerequisites:  BIO 111 General Biology I or BIO 112 General Biology II or BIO 117 Principles of Biology I or BIO 118 Principles of Biology II

Corequisites:  BIO 217 Laboratory

Credits: 4
Hours
3 Class Hours; 3 Laboratory Hours
Course Profile
Learning Outcomes of the Course:

Upon successful completion of this course the student will be able to:

  1. Illustrate knowledge of general ecological principles through successfully designing and implementing an assigned ecological field study.
  2. Use scientific methodology in the study of ecological principles by designing and implementing laboratory exercises that measure ecological principles.
  3. Through the debate process the student will demonstrate knowledge of the importance of wilderness areas as vital components of the world community.
  4. Demonstrate knowledge of the influence and impact of the human population on wilderness areas through articulate discussion, journal entries, and debate.
  5. Demonstrate scientific reasoning applied to the natural world, including an understanding of the methods scientists use to explore natural phenomena, including observation, hypothesis development, measurement and data collection, experimentation, evaluation of evidence, and employment of data analysis or mathematical modeling; and application of scientific data, concepts, and models in one of the natural sciences.