ES 579 - Biosphere, Ecology, and Global Environmental Change

4 credits
Studies biospheric systems ecology while examining global ecosystem structure and function. Explores how global systems change in response to natural and human-generated perturbations. Focuses on gaining experience reading current scientific literature that reports research on ecology of the biosphere and issues of global concern for humanity. Specific topics involving global systems change range across current and near-future change, including change in global temperature and climate patterns, change in sea level, change in atmospheric composition, change in atmosphere and ocean circulations, change in toxic states of the oceans, change in freshwater systems and desertification of continental interiors, change in the cryosphere (e.g. melting of polar ice), change in the lithosphere (e.g. catastrophic release of methane clathrates and volcanogenic gases), and asteroid impact scenarios. Diverse topics are unified by examining how scientific research informs policy pertaining to changes in our planetary environment.Prerequisite(s): ES 101, ES 102, ES 103 or equivalent