How does a swarm of honeybees collectively decide on a new site for their hive? When a mother mouse protects her young, are her behaviors genetically determined? Why do ravens share food with each other? This course is an introduction to behavioral ecology, which asks why animals act the way they do, how their behaviors have been shaped by natural selection, and how these behaviors influence their surroundings. We will first discuss behaviors at the individual level, then move to reproductive behaviors. The final section of the course will focus on social evolution, the origins of cooperation, and human behavioral ecology.

In this course, students will collect and analyze genomic data through the scope of evolutionary theory. Working in groups, teams will collect and analyze RDAseq data to address ecological and evolutionary questions. Students will become immersed in the professional-level practices for scientific writing through a written report. We will discuss evolutionary topics through lectures, discussions, and assigned readings. The goal is that each group project would ask a different question rooted in molecular ecology and produce a written report formatted for a peer-reviewed journal,

Tropical Biology 338 is an intensive three-week field course based in lowland rainforest in Panama. The origins, maintenance, and major interactions of terrestrial biota in tropical rainforests will be examined. The course will involve travel to three different field sites, field journaling, and completion of independent field based research projects.

This field and lecture course provides an in-depth introduction to the biology of tropical coral reefs, with an emphasis on reef fish ecology and behavior. Each day begins with a lecture, followed by six to eight hours on the water, and ends with data analysis, reading and a discussion of recent papers. Students learn to identify fishes, corals and invertebrates, and learn a variety of field methods including underwater censusing, mapping, videotaping and the recording of inter-individual interactions. Each year group projects will vary depending on previous findings and the interests of the faculty.

Biologists use a variety of statistical approaches to draw robust conclusions from noisy real-world data. This course covers the fundamental ideas behind these approaches, as well as the tools needed to apply them in practice, using the programming language R. We will discuss methods for describing and visualizing data, quantifying uncertainty, and distinguishing meaningful effects from random noise. A major goal of the course is to prepare students for analyzing their own data.

This course will cover genomic tools that can be used to study ecology and evolution in the field. Students will use the latest sequencing technologies (Illumina and Oxford Nanopore) to study ecological communities. Together, the students will design a set of studies that will use molecular barcoding to assess the composition of both animal and bacterial communities. They will conduct field trips to collect target samples for our experiments, and then they will extract DNA, amplify target loci, sequence their samples in the field, and analyze the resulting data. This course is offered as part of the semester abroad program in Panama.

Introduction to concepts, methods, and material of comparative natural history, with mammals as focal organisms. Perspectives include morphology, identification, evolution, ecology, behavior and conservation. Observations and experiments on a variety of species in different habitats and at a range of scales will provide insights into the adaptive value and underlying mechanistic function of mammalian adaptations. This course will be taught simultaneously in Panama a EEB's semester abroad program.

This lecture and discussion course will combine topics from graphic novels and science fiction with biological and technological research to explore bizarre phenomena in the natural world and delve into basic scientific theory and principles. The range of topics covered will include evolution, genetics, physiology, biomechanics, brain-machine interfacing and artificial intelligence among others. Lectures serve to introduce each topic, merging science fiction with contemporary issues and theories in biology, while discussions will focus in depth exploration of scientific and sociocultural concepts through the reading and literary analysis.

Intensive three-week field course during the Spring Term in a suitable tropical locality. Readings, discussions, and individual projects. The content and location are varied to suit the needs of the participants.

Discussion of the central problems of population biology and approaches that have proved fruitful. Topics ranging throughout ecology, evolution, biogeography, and population genetics are usually related to presentations by visiting speakers and students. (This is a core course.)

Humans increasingly dominate environmental systems throughout the world. To understand human impacts on the environment, quantitative modeling tools are needed. This course introduces quantitative modeling approaches for different environmental systems, including global models for carbon cycling; local and regional models for water, soil, and vegetation; models for transport of pollutants in water and air; and models for the spread of infectious disease. Students will develop simple models for all these systems and apply the models to a set of practical problems.

This required course for GHP students explores how we study the distribution and determinants of disease, introducing methods for measuring health status, disease occurrence, the association between risk factors and health outcomes, probing evidence for causality, and characterizing how ecology and evolution shapes human health. Emphasis on: study design and sampling, bias and confounding, the generalizability of research, identifying causality, infectious disease dynamics, global health.

Important concepts and elements of molecular biology, biochemistry, genetics, and cell biology, are examined in an experimental context. This course fulfills the basic biology requirement for students majoring in the biological sciences and satisfies the basic biology requirement for entrance into medical school and most other health professions schools.