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NSCI 201 Minnesota Ecology and Conservation Biology

An introduction to the science of conservation biology applied to the ecology of Minnesota, focusing on Minnesota's natural ecosystems and the connections between humans and the environment. Lab activities vary with the season and the instructor's expertise. Field trips to forest, prairie and/or wetland ecosystems are a required part of class; check the class schedule for the dates and times of field trips. Includes lab. Intended for general education students.

Prerequisites

Special information

First day attendance is mandatory.
Overlap: Student cannot receive credit for both NSCI 201 Nature Study and NSCI 201 Minnesota Ecology and Conservation Biology.
4 Undergraduate credits

Effective August 14, 2011 to present

Meets graduation requirements for

Learning outcomes

General

  • Communicate their experiential findings, analyses, and interpretations both orally and in writing.
  • Demonstrate quantitative reasoning skills and competency with the use of arithmetic and statistics at a level appropriate for graduates of bachelors degree programs.
  • Demonstrate understanding of scientific theories and knowledge in conservation biology at the level necessary for informed citizenship.
  • Describe and explain Minnesota¿s natural ecosystems, including forests, prairies, and wetlands, the life histories and adaptations of natives organisms found there, (including the ability to identify on sight at least twenty organisms native to Minnesota), and the issues that affect the past, present and future of natural ecosystems in Minnesota.
  • Describe the basic institutional arrangements (social, legal, political, economic, religious) that are developing in response to environmental and natural resource challenges.
  • Evaluate critically environmental and natural resource issues in light of understandings about interrelationships, ecosystems, and institutions.
  • Evaluate societal issues from a natural science perspective, ask questions about the evidence presented, and make informed judgments about science-related topics and policies.
  • Formulate and test hypotheses by performing a field experiment in ecology, including the collection of data, statistical and graphical analysis of results, and an interpretation of its sources of error and uncertainty.
  • Propose and assess alternative solutions to environmental problems; Articulate and defend the actions they would take on various environmental issues.
  • Use properly the tools that naturalists use, including field guides and keys, hand lenses, microscopes, binoculars, and topographic maps.

Minnesota Transfer Curriculum

Goal 3: Natural Sciences

  • Demonstrate understanding of scientific theories.
  • Formulate and test hypotheses by performing laboratory, simulation, or field experiments in at least two of the natural science disciplines. One of these experimental components should develop, in greater depth, students' laboratory experience in the collection of data, its statistical and graphical analysis, and an appreciation of its sources of error and uncertainty.
  • Communicate their experimental findings, analyses, and interpretations both orally and in writing.
  • Evaluate societal issues from a natural science perspective, ask questions about the evidence presented, and make informed judgments about science-related topics and policies.

Goal 10: People and the Environment

  • Explain the basic structure and function of various natural ecosystems and of human adaptive strategies within those systems.
  • Discern patterns and interrelationships of bio-physical and socio-cultural systems.
  • Describe the basic institutional arrangements (social, legal, political, economic, religious) that are evolving to deal with environmental and natural resource challenges.
  • Evaluate critically environmental and natural resource issues in light of understandings about interrelationships, ecosystems, and institutions.
  • Propose and assess alternative solutions to environmental problems.
  • Articulate and defend the actions they would take on various environmental issues.

Spring 2024

Section Title Instructor books eservices
01 Minnesota Ecology and Conservation Biology Cummins, Heather Books for NSCI-201-01 Spring 2024 Course details for NSCI-201-01 Spring 2024

Summer 2024

Section Title Instructor books eservices
01 Minnesota Ecology and Conservation Biology Staff, Staff Books for NSCI-201-01 Summer 2024 Course details for NSCI-201-01 Summer 2024

Fall 2024

Section Title Instructor books eservices
01 Minnesota Ecology and Conservation Biology Staff, Staff Books for NSCI-201-01 Fall 2024 Course details for NSCI-201-01 Fall 2024