Ecology and Conservation Supercourse
Ecology and Conservation in Practice Intensive Field Course - Spring Quarter 2025 Course to be conducted in California Natural Reserves
Spring Quarter 2025
Course to be conducted in California Natural Reserves
Why California
California is a global biodiversity hotspot and known for its diversity of ecosystems including islands, coastal scrub and sage, lagoons, sub-alpine and alpine forests, tundra, and desert islands, subtropical scrublands, and deserts. Unfortunately, human development and its impacts have profoundly impacted many parts of this ecological landscape – from direct development to contamination to introduced species. This course utilizes University of California Natural Reserve System as natural laboratories to teach advanced ecological principles and innovative approaches to conservation.
What is the course content?
Dr. Don Croll of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, and Dr. Gage Dayton of the UC Natural Reserve System will jointly teach this 19-unit supercourse. It will focus on field methods, ecology, and conservation. The course will be equivalent to the content of four on-campus courses. A large component of the course will consist of written and oral presentations. Through class lecture, discussion, student projects, and field research projects, you will gain an understanding of: 1) fundamental concepts in ecology; 2) principles of conservation biology; 3) geomorphology and climate, 4)) field research techniques; and 6) field techniques for conservation.
Course Costs and Aid
This course will require a course fee of approximately $1,597 for food, local travel, and field research supplies. We have been successful in securing additional financial aid for students who qualify and that the financial aid department has identified as meeting the need requirements. We can provide more details in our pre-application meeting and or talk to you one on one.
Please do not let the finances discourage you from applying.
We work hard to support eligible students to cover the course fees. If you have questions, please reach out.
What is the approach?
The course will begin with lectures and field research based at the UCSC Reserves (Año Nuevo, Younger Lagoon, Campus, and in the Santa Cruz Mountains). Using this background, we will embark on three overnight extended field trips to further hone our conservation research skills and address more specific questions. We will spend a long weekend at a local reserve, return to Santa Cruz to write up your results, then go to our Big Creek Reserve located in the Big Sur Coast for approximately one week, return to Santa Cruz to write your papers and analyze data, then head to Santa Cruz Island for approximately one week to conduct your final research project, and finally return to Santa Cruz where you will write up for your final paper and give a presentation on your research. The course sequence (BIOE 151ABCD) satisfies the senior exit requirement, two upper-division electives, and one GE course for Environmental Studies majors; and satisfies 3 upper-division electives requirements for Biology majors.
How do I apply?
We are inviting motivated students who are interested in getting hands-on, rigorous experience in conducting field research in ecology and conservation to submit an application for the course. Please fill out the online application here: or past the following url into a web browser:
https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLScM3vl1mg4HlUQDJVyr2UNYT68G1BZ7cjGqJey4jqdNKomfOA/viewform
Important Dates
- Informational meeting November 7th at 5PM In person (preferred): Ocean Health Building, Coastal Sciences Campus Room 201 Zoom: https://ucsc.zoom.us/j/98939878616?pwd=wu0vZXNLyUKsw5p6JCz9paWCddl43D.1
- 2. Application due date November 10th at Midnight
- 3. Notification of application status November 13th
