BIOL 295 Desert Ecology

This course is a field intensive experience of the geology, plants, birds, mammals, and insects of the Colorado Plateau, Mojave, Sonoran, and Chihuahuan Deserts in California, Arizona and Texas. Focus is on identification of ecological principles operating in these systems and small group research projects to test understanding of these principles. The course also features discussion and understanding of human impacts on ecological principles and the policies driving these impacts. Accommodations are primarily camping. Students are expected to hike distances of up to 10 miles per day, at elevations from sea level to 9000ft.