ES 252D Landscape Dynamics: Environmental Change and Conservation in the Saratoga Region

Instructor: M. Gaige

The contemporary landscape is shaped by natural processes and human activities of the past. Beginning with the most recent glaciation ending ~12,000 years ago and ranging up to current land protection and conservation efforts, students will explore how the Saratoga region (broadly defined) came to be organized the way it has, why species occur where they do, and how land has developed as it has. Focus will be given to substrate conditions created by geological processes, natural ecological communities, and the past 300 years of agriculture and land use change. The framework established in this course will allow students to approach any landscape or region through its deep history and the dynamic interplay between the physical, biological, and cultural landscapes. There will be lab work and field trips.

Prerequisite: ES 100

ES 252D Marine Ecology and Conservation

Instructor: T. Chase

Course content will span multidisciplinary marine science concepts and principles of oceanography, marine ecology, and conservation of various marine systems, including intertidal zones, seagrass habitats, coral reefs, and open ocean ecosystems. Application of marine conservation approaches and management will be discussed in relation to measuring and safeguarding biodiversity. Discussions of policy and solutions, ecological/social management perspectives, and science communication will also occur. Independent and group exercises will investigate research methodologies and quantification of data related to ocean anthropogenic/environmental stressors (including climate change and marine pollution), as well as a range of science communication outputs. During the semester, there is the potential for a course laboratory session to extend beyond scheduled lab times, or they may involve a weekend field trip.

Prerequisites: ES 105 or BI 108 

ES 352D Coral Reef Dynamics

Instructor: T. Chase

An advanced interdisciplinary study of coral reef systems integrating reef community ecology, geomorphology, conservation, and governance to examine reef function, disturbance, and resilience within coupled ecological and social systems. This course applies theoretical, quantitative, and conceptual models to life-history strategies, population dynamics, and spatial-temporal patterns across functional groups, emphasizing the mechanisms that structure reef communities and shape their responses to anthropogenic stressors. Students develop scientific literacy through engagement with primary literature and critical evaluation of contemporary coral research, presentations and student-led discussions. Hands-on laboratory and computer-based exercises with live corals, aquarium husbandry, spatial mapping, and field data analysis are paired with comparative case studies from the Caribbean, Great Barrier Reef, and the Red Sea to demonstrate how ecological processes inform management and policy to influence conservation outcomes. Course components also incorporate mini research projects, poster presentations, guest speakers, and opportunities to complete an online restoration and management certification. No prior marine science background is required.

Prerequisites: One 200-level core course (ES 205, ES 206, or ES 252D Marine Ecology and Conservation), or one 200 level Bio course or instructor permission.

ES 352D Environmental Remediation

Instructor: J. Benaman

An exploration of the principles, methods, and regulatory frameworks guiding environmental remediation at contaminated sites across the United States. Students will learn how environmental professionals assess, manage, and clean up pollution in soil, groundwater, sediment, and surface water to protect human health and the environment. Each step in the remedial process will be analyzed, including site investigations, risk assessments, permitting, types of remedial alternatives, feasibility studies, remedial design and implementation, and long-term monitoring. A number of lectures and labs will be taught by guest lecturers who have expertise in specific areas.

Prerequisites: one 200-level core course (ES 205, ES 206, or ES 252D Marine Ecology and Conservation), or one 200-level Bio course, or instructor permission

WLL 363 Terroir: Wine and the French Sense of Place

Instructor: Tim Freiermuth

In a world of multinational corporations, boundless social media, global brands, rampant urbanization, cultural homogenization, environmental degradation, large-scale industrialized agriculture, and virtual reality...Does PLACE matter anymore?  The answer may have been quite literally planted 1000 years ago by Burgundian monks!  This course proposes to respond to this fundamental question through an interdisciplinary exploration of the quintessentially French notion of “terroir.”  Originally a winemaking term designating the unique characteristics a wine exhibits due to its geographic situation, terroir speaks to the “irreproducible uniqueness of place” and therefore unlocks a distinctively French contribution to a wide range of seemingly unrelated issues. We will plunge into the world of wine only to find ourselves enmeshed in debates on environmental policy, farm-to-table activist economics, nationalism and immigration, art and architecture, abortion and reproductive technology, urban planning and suburban sprawl, cafeteria lunch wars, accent standardization, or authenticity and simulation.  Yes, it is all in a single bottle of wine!

Course taught in English. 

Students wishing to earn credit for the French major/minor must also register for the 1-credit add-on WLF 271, which will be conducted in French.

Prerequisite: Expository Writing course

AN 351R Living with Animals

Instructor: E. de Wet

Human lives are fully and completely entangled with those of other animals, ranging from those we share our lives with as pets, those we eat, and those who shape our environments. This course explores what it means to study those relationships anthropologically. How do we understand animals as agents, animals as food, animals as integral to the health of our world through our interconnected lives and landscapes? How do we understand race, colonialism, feminism, inequality, justice, and even our own backyards different if we decenter humans as the agents in our world? This course explores those questions through multispecies ethnography, the ethics of eating animals from indigenous, feminist, and racial justice perspectives, and through approaches that decenter the human from studies of pandemics and conservation.