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Interested in conservation? Check out EBIO 4460 Conservation Planning!

EBIO 4460 and EBIO 5460 Conservation planning and structured decision making in ecosystem management

3:55-5:10 T/Th

 

Course description: We are impacting our planet at unprecedented rates, creating policy challenges to conserve biological diversity, ecosystems, and the benefits that ecosystems provide to people (e.g., clean water, recreation, climate stabilization). But, how do we best tackle these challenges, given limited resources (time, money) for conservation, and multiple stakeholders with different objectives? This course will provide foundational knowledge in conservation planning and a tool-box to formulate and solve complex problems in ecosystem management and in life.

 

List of Principle Topics covered:

We will cover topics ranging from protected areas, restoration, ecosystem services, and climate change to structured decision-making, adaptive management, and return on investment. The course has a lecture and in class computer lab component. In the lab, students will become familiar with commonly-used tools and software used by professionals in the field (e.g., Marxan, InVest). Topics include: challenges and aims in conservation planning; setting objectives and priorities in conservation planning; the structured decision making framework and approach; reserve design & protected areas ; the role of costs in conservation ; uncertainty, risk ad assessing the value of information ; implementation, Monitoring and Evaluation; Ecosystem services ; Restoration, reintroductions and rewilding; Social dimensions of conservation planning; and, adapting conservation under changing climates.

 

Student Learning Outcomes:

At the end of this course, students will be able to: 

  • discuss challenges for conservation in our current times
  • explain the ProAct process for structured-decision making
  •  formulate a conservation problem in the ProAct framework
  • analyze a conservation planning decisions and applications in real-world settings
  • apply current approaches and techniques to case studies 
  • solve complex conservation decisions using ProAct 
  • evaluate key scientific literature in conservation planning through reading and analyzing scientific papers
  • Apply knowledge about principles for conservation planning in lab assignments that use tools and software for developing and evaluating conservation plans and problems