Tropical Biology

BIOL 50903 WEM

Prerequisites: Six semester hours in Biology; travel costs are exclusive of tuition; permission of instructors
Offered: Spring, odd years

This is a team taught course with two hours lecture per week, one week of field work in Costa Rica and a terminal project. This course provides an introduction to the animals, plants, and ecosystems of the New World tropics. Lecture topics will include tropical climate and ecosystems, evolutionary patterns in the tropics, and conservation of biodiversity. The field experience will expose students to coastal ecosystems (coral reefs and mangroves) as well as tropical rainforest, and tropical dry forest.