Laboratory in Field Ecology
NRE 455 / Environ 455
Credits: 5
Prerequisites: A course in ecology or advanced undergraduate biology, Graduate Standing or Permission of Instructor.

This is a field course, emphasizing observation and hypothesis formation in ecology. Students will work in small groups on specific topics, which will change from week to week. Ecology students require intensive practice in making field observations and systematically exploring the implications of those observations. One vehicle for doing so is the \\\"field problem\\\" based course, in which a faculty member chooses a general topic and works with a small group of students exploring that topic for an entire day. The field problem-based course is distinct from the laboratory course in that field problems seek to explore an unknown area. The course does not include \\\"set labs\\\" or repeats of well-known patterns. The professor and students seek to explore an area that has not been explored before. The exercise of working out the details of a new problem along with the professor gives the student practice in the creative part of the scientific endeavor. Working with a variety of faculty members gives the student experience with a variety of styles of doing science. The general structure of the course, which is centered on the field problem, encourages a great deal of discussion among students and between students and faculty. A major goal of the course is to facilitate that discussion. Additionally, there is a relatively large lecture load, with an average of four lectures per weekend.