Introduces students to the range of natural species and communities occurring on the UCSC campus. All class time is spent outside, and each week a different area of campus is visited. Course 24 is recommended.
Instructor
Christopher Lay
Introduction and training in the skills needed to create, manage, and exhibit natural history collections, including plants, insects, fungi, birds, mammals, reptiles, and amphibians.
Students gain proficiency in illustration media, and acquire training in the essential skills needed to create natural-history inspired illustrations. Students create illustrations and paintings by studying organisms in the Norris Center for Natural History collections, as well as those living on and around campus. Some experience in basic drawing and/or natural-history sketching is recommended.
General Education Code
PR-C
Students learn the fundamentals of organismal biology and ecology through observations in the field, museum specimens, and field journaling. Class focuses on a particular taxonomic group or natural community, such as reptiles, fungi, insects, coastal prairie, or chaparral. Enrollment by application. Please email envsadvi@ucsc.edu for applications.
Quarter offered
Fall, Winter, Spring
Provides an overview of the physical and chemical environment of planet Earth. Fundamental chemistry and physics is introduced in the process of learning about Earth in a holistic way. The influence of human societies on the global environment is one focus of discussion. Earth's many spheres are explored first: the lithosphere; the atmosphere; the hydrosphere, and the ecosphere. Then global cycles of carbon, nitrogen, and several other elements are studied in the context of basic sciences and societal issues.
Quarter offered
Spring, Summer
Covers principles of ecology including limits to species abundances, evolutionary ecology, population dynamics, community interactions and patterns, and ecosystem patterns and dynamics.
General Education Code
SI
Introduces the policy and economic dimensions of some pressing environmental challenges. Case studies may include, biodiversity conservation, waste, water, climate change, and other topics to examine the drivers and policy responses to environmental problems and the trade-offs in different policy solutions. (Formerly Environmental Policy and Economics.)
General Education Code
PE-E
Introduction to freshwater resources from multiple scientific and policy perspectives. After a review of basic concepts, water issues affecting cities, farms, open space, and multiple-use landscapes are studied. Students cannot receive credit for this course if they have previously received credit for
ENVS 165.
General Education Code
PE-E
A broad overview of the impacts of human activities on the global climate system. Topics include how climate affects the distribution of ecosystems, the influence of global climate change on biodiversity, ecosystem function, and consequences for the human enterprise. (Formerly The Ecological Forecast for Global Warming.)
Instructor
Elliott Campbell
General Education Code
PE-E
Our current food system is unsustainable for the environment and unjust for the farmers, farmworkers, and consumers who depend on it. Course provides an interdisciplinary, experiential, and systems-focused introduction to agroecology and other approaches to advancing a more just and ecologically sustainable food system. Students will come to understand agroecology as a science for understanding agricultural ecosystems, as a farming practice, and as a social movement to change the way we produce and distribute/access food. Course examines many topics—including biological fertility and pest management, seeds, livestock raising, and aquaculture—from the perspective of both the natural and social sciences, leaving students with a perspective that transcends any particular academic discipline. Students gain hands-on experience with farming research, production, and food distribution happening across the UCSC campus farm and food system.
Instructor
Madeleine Fairbairn
General Education Code
PE-E
A supervised off-campus learning experience related to environmental problem solving. Focuses on initial experiences in applied work and specific skill development. Students may be placed individually or with a team in government agencies, private organizations, citizen action groups.
General Education Code
PR-S
Quarter offered
Fall, Winter, Spring
Supervised learning experience related to environmental problem solving. Students may work with government agencies, private organizations, citizen action groups, or in specialized apprenticeships on an individual or team basis. This 2-credit internship puts students in the field and offers them the experience of practicing environmental problem solving. This internship experience focuses on specific skill development. (Formerly ENVS 184.)
General Education Code
PR-S
Quarter offered
Fall, Winter, Spring
Directed reading, supervised research, and organized projects relating to environmental problems. May be repeated for credit with consent of the chairperson of Environmental Studies Department. Students submit petition to sponsoring agency.
Quarter offered
Fall, Winter, Spring
Provides for department-sponsored directed reading, supervised research, or organized project for lower-division students under the direct supervision of a faculty sponsor. May not be counted toward major requirements. Students submit petition to sponsoring agency.
Quarter offered
Fall, Winter, Spring
Cross-listed Courses
A survey of the diversity, structure, and functioning of California's ecosystems through time and the ways they have influenced and responded to human activities and stewardship. Topics include: ecosystem drivers such as climate, soils, and land-use history; human and ecological prehistory; comparative marine, freshwater, and terrestrial ecosystem dynamics; and managed ecosystems such as range, fisheries, and agriculture.
Cross Listed Courses
ENVS 125
Instructor
Erika Zavaleta
General Education Code
PE-E
An intensive, on-site learning experience in terrestrial field ecology and conservation, using the University of California Natural Reserves and other natural areas. Students study advance concepts in ecology, conservation, and field methods for four weeks, then experience total immersion in field research at the UC Natural Reserves and other natural areas. Lectures, field experiments, writing assignments, and computer exercises familiarize students with research methods, study design, statistical approaches, and analytical tools for ecological research. Students complete and communicate the results of short field projects in ecology, learn the natural history of the flora and fauna of California, and plan and execute a significant, independent field-research study at the end of the quarter. Enrollment is by application. Prerequisite(s): BIOL 20A,
BIOE 20B,
BIOE 20C or
ENVS 23,
ENVS 24,
ENVS 100; and
STAT 7 &
STAT 7L (formerly AMS 7 & AMS 7L). Concurrent enrollment in
BIOE 151B-
BIOE 151C-
BIOE 151D or ENVS 109B-ENVS 109C-ENVS 109D is required. Satisfies the senior exit requirement for biological sciences majors and satisfies the senior exit requirement for environmental studies majors by prior approval. Students cannot receive credit for this course and
BIOE 150,
BIOE 150L,
ENVS 104A or ENVS 196A.
Cross Listed Courses
ENVS 109A
Instructor
Donald Croll, Gage Dayton
Field-oriented course in ecological research. Combines overview of methodologies and approaches to field research with practical field studies. Students complete field projects in ecology and also learn the natural history of the flora and fauna of California. Students are billed a materials fee of $1,450. Enrollment is by application. Prerequisite(s): BIOL 20A, BIOE 20B, BIOE 20C or ENVS 23, ENVS 24, ENVS 100; and STAT 7 & STAT 7L (formerly AMS 7 & AMS 7L); satisfaction of the Entry Level Writing and Composition requirements. Concurrent enrollment in BIOE 151A-BIOE 151C-BIOE 151D or ENVS 109A-ENVS 109C-ENVS 109D is required. Satisfies the senior exit requirement for biological sciences majors and satisfies the senior exit requirement for environmental studies majors by prior approval. Students cannot receive credit for this course and BIOE 150, BIOE 150L, ENVS 104A or ENVS 196A.
Cross Listed Courses
ENVS 109B
Instructor
Donald Croll, Gage Dayton
From lectures and discussion of terrestrial community and ecosystem ecology, students work individually or in small groups to present an idea for a project, review relevant literature, develop a research question/hypothesis, design and perform an experiment, collect and analyze data, and write a report. The instructor evaluates the feasibility of each student's project before it begins. Enrollment is by application. Prerequisite(s):
BIOL 20A,
BIOE 20B,
BIOE 20C or
ENVS 23,
ENVS 24,
ENVS 100; and
STAT 7 &
STAT 7L (formerly AMS 7 & AMS 7L). Concurrent enrollment in
BIOE 151A-
BIOE 151B-
BIOE 151D or ENVS 109A-ENVS 109B-ENVS 109D is required. Satisfies the senior exit requirement for biological sciences majors and satisfies the senior exit requirement for environmental studies majors by prior approval. Students cannot receive credit for this course and
BIOE 150,
BIOE 150L,
ENVS 104A or ENVS 196A.
Cross Listed Courses
ENVS 109C
Instructor
Donald Croll, Gage Dayton
Focuses on current issues in environmental and conservation biology and the emerging field methods used to address them. From field-oriented lectures about current issues in environmental and conservation biology, students pursue research project as individuals and small groups to develop hands-on experience with field skills in conservation research and resource management. Enrollment is by application. Prerequisite(s):
BIOL 20A,
BIOE 20B,
BIOE 20C or
ENVS 23,
ENVS 24,
ENVS 100; and
STAT 7 &
STAT 7L (formerly AMS 7 & AMS 7L). Concurrent enrollment in
BIOE 151A-B-C or ENVS 109A-B-C required. Satisfies the senior exit requirement for biological sciences majors and satisfies the senior exit requirement for environmental studies majors by prior approval. Students cannot receive credit for this course and
BIOE 150,
BIOE 150L,
ENVS 104A or ENVS 196A.
Cross Listed Courses
ENVS 109D
Instructor
Donald Croll, Gage Dayton
Investigates, imagines, and practices movement toward water justice in California using feminist, Indigenous, and critical race theory. The course includes collaborative projects with environmental justice organizers in the Central Valley, and offers new ways of thinking about water inequity and access through racial capitalism, settler colonialism, and critical theories of place.
Cross Listed Courses
CRES 136, ENVS 136
General Education Code
PR-E
Explores how local land use and planning objectives are defined and determined by federal, state, and (most importantly) local law. Focuses on California, and on California municipal law issues. Housing, transportation, water supply, regional government, environmental protection, natural resource protection, urban sprawl, and growth management issues are addressed as students learn how federal, state, and local laws relate to city urban planning problems.
Cross Listed Courses
ENVS 148