Course Description

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Global Change Ecology will provide an in-depth survey of climate change and its ecological impacts. We will examine the drivers and mechanisms of climate change and its impacts on the distribution and abundance of species and ecological communities. We will use a systems approach that places global change ecology in the context of the Earth system, emphasizing the interactions and feedbacks within and between the ecological, climate, and human systems.

Catamount Core Curriculum Designations

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This class counts towards the following Catamount Core Curriculum requirements for UVM undergraduates:

N1: Natural Science (No Lab). In natural sciences courses, students become familiar with scientific thought, observation, experimentation, and formal hypothesis testing. They develop the skills necessary to make informed judgments about scientific information and arguments related to the natural world. Students also gain the ability to assess the impacts of our expanding scientific knowledge and technology on the diversity of life on Earth, and the quality of life for our own species. All courses provide experiences with the methods of scientific inquiry used to develop new knowledge about the natural world.

SU: Sustainability. At the University of Vermont, we recognize that the pursuit of ecological, social, and economic vitality must come with the understanding that the needs of the present be met without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs. This course was given sustainability designation because, in addition to the course-level outcomes, the course meets the Sustainability General Education requirement, which includes the following four learning outcomes:

1. Students can have an informed conversation about the multiple dimensions and complexity of sustainability.
2. Students can evaluate sustainability using an evidence-based disciplinary approach and integrate economic, ecological, and social perspectives.
3. Students think critically about sustainability across a diversity of cultural values and across multiple scales of relevance from local to global.
4. Students, as members of society, can recognize and assess how sustainability impacts their lives and how their actions impact sustainability.

Course Requisites or Co-requisites

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BCOR 2100 Ecology and Evolution or NR 2030 Ecology, Ecosystems & Environment or an equivalent sophomore level course in Ecology and/or Evolution.

Course Goals

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Course objectives

1. The student will be able to describe the natural and human drivers of climate change.
2. The student will be able to describe the primary impacts of climate change on species and ecological communities.
3. The student will be able to discuss the ecological system as a component of the Earth system.
4. The student will apply a systems perspective to describing the relationships between the ecological, climate, and human components of the Earth system.

Class Structure. Students will achieve course objectives through readings, other media, and online discussions. The class will be divided up into modules, with the student completing each module before moving on to the next module. There are a total of 8 modules with the student completing 2 modules per week for each of the 4 weeks of the course.

1. Readings. Students will complete assigned readings from course texts and other assigned sources.

2. Media. Students will watch a variety of videos and other media that reinforce and supplement the assigned readings. These will include full length documentaries, shorter video presentations, and podcasts. The online discussions and learning assessments will integrate material from all media.

3. Online discussions. Students will participate in online discussions that examine and analyze the concepts presented in the readings and assigned media for each course module.

4. Learning Assessments. Quizzes will assess student understanding of assigned readings and videos for each course module, while a cumulative final exam will assess student understanding of content across modules.

Grading

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Grading scale:

For graduate students, grades below 70 are considered failing.

Readings

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Students will also be assigned readings from the following set of books (below). These books will be required for this class and are available as ebooks from the publisher or other online sources (e.g., Amazon, etc.) or in the university bookstore.

1. Thomas E. Lovejoy (Editor) & Lee Hannah (Editor). 2019. Biodiversity and Climate Change: Transforming the Biosphere. Link to book.
2. Emanuel, K., 2018. What we know about climate change. MIT Press. ISBN: 9780262535915. Link to book.

Media

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We will watch a variety of documentaries, video lectures, and podcasts. I try to find free sources of these media, but you may have to rent, purchase, or find them through a subscription service (e.g., Amazon Prime, Netflix, Apple TV, etc.). These media include the following:

1. An Inconvenient Truth (97 mins)
2. A Crude Awakening: The Oil Crash (83 mins)
3. Seaspiriacy (89 mins)
4. Planet of the Humans (100 mins)

GETTING STARTED

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1. Watch these introductory videos:
   1. In Introductory Video 1 (7 mins), you'll learn a little about me and my approach to teaching this course, receive an orientation to the course objectives, and learn about the grading schema.
   2. In Introductory Video 2 (8 mins), you'll learn about our course readings and videos, how to get started, and an overview of the Module structure of our course.
2. Review the course objectives and course texts above.
3. Log onto Blackboard class page and click on the Yellowdig link on the left sidebar and make a post introducing yourself. Here is a short youtube video (3 mins) describing how to use Yellowdig and here is a video (4 mins) specific to using Yellowdig in our class.
4. Go to the course using the following link:

   Schedule: Not released yet

5. Start Module 1 by watching the introductory video, then complete the assigned tasks for that module, moving from left to right, ending with a quiz.
6. Complete 2 modules per week. After completing module 8 at the end of week 4, take the final exam.

Policies

• Academic Honesty and Plagiarism
• Student Learning Accomodations
• Academic Integrity
• Religious Holidays