Ecology/Ecosystems

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Landscape and Ecosystem Ecology

This course focuses on the principals and applications of landscape and ecosystem ecology. Students will gain an understanding of the forces that shape landscape patterns in space and time and the subsequent consequences for ecosystem processes. An important component of the course is an exploration of the methods and tools of landscape and ecosystem analysis. The content of the course is based on a combination of readings from textbooks and the primary literature and will hinge on detailed student/instructor interactions via online discussion.

Ecology of Plants and Plant Communities

This course will explore plant ecology at the individual, population and community levels. This will include topics such as plant response to stress, population biology, and community assembly. Quantitative measures for assessing populations and communities will be addressed. Other topics including non-native species and restoration will be covered based on student background and interest.

Ecology of Invasive Plants of the Greater Yellowstone

This five day course includes 3 days in the field making measurements on exotic invasive plants at a range of sites from the Gallatin Valley to the Gallatin National Forest and 2 days analyzing the data and using simulation models to explore plant invasiveness. The focus of this course is to directly involve students with testing methodology for monitoring the invasive potential of several exotic species in otherwise pristine mountain environments.

Ecology

Fundamental principles of ecology. Major topics covered by the course include the physical environment, how organisms interact with each other and their environment, evolutionary processes, population dynamics, communities, energy flow and ecosystems, human influences on ecosystems, and the integration and scaling of ecological processes through systems ecology. Computer-based materials are used extensively for guided independent learning of ecology. Offered Fall, Spring and Summer semesters, with summer offering an accelerated 6 week course.

Managing for Ecosystem Sustainability

This course introduces to current and future managers the fundamentals of natural resource response that contribute to successful land management. How to read and understand the land is a key element in this course. Also included are the impacts of ecological process on operation products and the use of mechanism-based understanding to produce reliable management responses. Important elements of using biological tools, fire, mechanical intervention and chemicals to manage land are included.

Ecology of Military Lands

This course will focus on the landscape ecology of military training and testing areas. It covers ecological principles and the impacts of disturbances caused by military training and testing activities, to include scientific approaches to measuring and quantifying these impacts. A particular focus of the course will be on the ecology and management of threatened and endangered species, and their associated habitats on military lands. Regional case studies of soil erosion management and species management from military lands throughout the U.S. and in Europe will be incorporated.

Fire Ecology and Management

Integrated fire-related ecological effects of fire on vegetation, soils, and air quality; natural and changing role of fire in forests, woodlands, shrublands and rangelands; influence of global change including climate and invasive species; fire as a management tool; application to current issues.

Integrated Rangeland Management

Management strategies for integrating grazing with other natural resource values such as wildlife, water, timber, recreation, and aesthetics; emphasis on herbivore ecology including ecological impacts of grazing, ways to manage grazing, and nutritional relationships between plants and free-ranging ungulates on rangeland, pastureland, and forest ecosystems. One 1-week field trip.

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Brought to You By

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United States Department of Agriculture

The creation of this Rangeland Science Course Catalog was made possible by USDA Higher Education Challenge Grant No. 2010-38411-21370 "Repositioning Rangeland Education for a Changing World."

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