UC Santa CruzEnvironmental Studies
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Contributions from Ecology

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The natural science component of environmental studies draws on knowledge in basic and applied ecology at varying scales and in several ecological systems. There is no division between "applied" and "basic" ecological research. We view conservation biology and agroecology as overlapping approaches for addressing landscape-scale environmental issues.

Credit: G. GilbertResearch and teaching in conservation biology emphasize the protection, restoration, and management of populations and communities of native species. Particular areas represented in faculty and student research in our program include the integration of modeling and experimental approaches to population dynamics and ecosystem processes and the integration of evolutionary ecology into conservation biology. These approaches better inform our understanding of ecological restoration, biological invasions, and impacts of climate change.  We place increasing emphasis on integrating research from local to global scales. We maintain close connections with organismal and population biologists elsewhere on campus (e.g., the Departments of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Ocean Sciences, and Earth Sciences) and in regional public and private resource management agencies.

Research and teaching in agroecology and sustainable agriculture examine systems of food and fiber production that can be sustained over long periods of time and that are compatible with the protection of both cultural and biological diversity. This area applies ecological concepts and principles to the design and management of sustainable agricultural systems and investigates the ecological knowledge within traditional forms of agriculture that evolved in situ. Subdisciplinary specializations in this emphasis include plant ecology, entomology, chemical ecology, and agronomy. Students will develop expertise in agroecosystem analysis, the design and analysis of field experiments, and the use of a broad range of methodologies that combine laboratory, field, and agricultural community approaches.