Teaching
LandSCAPE Ecology (NR 220 - 3 credits)
Link to Course syllabus
This course examines the critical role that spatial pattern plays in shaping ecological communities, the dynamics of ecosystems, species conservation, and the connections between people and nature. We learn the foundations of Landscape Ecology, what they teach us about how nature works over broad scales, and the ways we can manage landscapes to maintain healthy ecosystems and biodiversity. The course emphasizes how core ideas in Landscape Ecology are continually being tested and revised by the research community, and how they inform conservation and management.
Ecosystem Services (NR 6420 - 3 credits)
Link to Course syllabus
This course considers, from a variety of angles, the economic and other benefits nature provides to people. We examine the ecological foundations of quantifying ecosystem services, the economics of valuing them, and the practical and equity issues involved with putting them to use. Ecosystem services are a hot topic these days. They are a useful way of understanding the links between social and ecological systems, as well as a good example of cutting-edge science and real-world application truly advancing together.
Biodiversity: Patterns & Processes (ENSC 295 - 3 credits)
Link to Course Syllabus
This course considers changes in the diversity of life forms through time and across space, as well as the ecological and evolutionary drivers behind these patterns. We discuss patterns in the diversity of life throughout earth’s history. This perspective puts our current biodiversity crisis in context; species are going extinct at 100 to 1,000 times the background rate. What are the consequences of this diversity loss? What do we need to know to halt this collapse of life on earth? Understanding biodiversity patterns and processes will help us understand how we might better coexist on this crowded planet.
WATER QUALITY AND THE FUTURE OF FARMING IN VERMONT (NR 352 - 3 credits)
Link to Course syllabus
Vermont faces twin dilemmas: our agricultural sector is at a critical juncture, and our “green” image is at risk because of water quality degradation in the state. Dairy farming is central to our state’s identity and culture, but it is the most significant contributor to phosphorus pollution and is in financial trouble. Meanwhile, our lakes suffer from annual algae blooms, which have profound impacts on the quality of our water, quality of life, and other economic sectors such as tourism. Communities around the nation and planet face similar linked challenges. This class will develop a detailed proposal to pay VT dairy farmers for reducing nutrient loading, in an attempt to address these twin dilemmas simultaneously.
Behavioral Economics and Environment (NR 395 -1 credit)
Link to Course Syllabus
How do people really make choices? Mainstream economic models often assume that people are fully rational and make decisions to maximize their private gain. But the field of Behavioral Economics is finding that the ways in which people make decisions is much more interesting and nuanced than that. People alter their choices dramatically based on social setting, previous experience, and psychological factors. These insights are critical to current sustainability issues like managing public goods, encouraging energy conservation, and building support for environmental initiatives. And they reveal how phenomena like crowding out, social approval, anchoring, and priming affect our everyday decisions.
Ecosystems and Human Health (NR 395 - 1 credit)
Link to Course Syllabus
Is nature good for our health? Scientists have begun to document the monetary values that forests, wetlands, coral reefs, and other ecosystems hold for people. Less well understood are the contributions these ecosystems make to human health. A growing number of intriguing case studies has explored these connections, involving Lyme disease, malaria, asthma, malnutrition and more. Learning from the best of these cases studies and expanding them will help us understand whether and when conservation is a good public health strategy.