Ecology is the study of how organisms interact with their physical and biological environment. The Ecology specialization is designed for students uding fisheries, wildlife management, forestry, ecological restoration, and conservation biology. Students following this specialization will gain experience in natural history, field research, and experimental design. Potential careers may be found in federal, state, and tribal agencies, or private environmental consulting firms. Program goals, outcomes and assessments have been established for the Ecology specialization. The Ecology faculty strongly suggest that every student augment the single required taxonomy course with an elective second taxonomy course. Students interested in graduate study in ecology should work closely with their advisor to tailor this specialization to their particular field of interest.

Organismal diversity requirement: All students in the Biology B.S. program must take at least one advanced (300 or 400 level) animal course, one advanced plant course, and one advanced course covering other organisms (fungi, protists, bacteria, viruses). These courses may be contained within the Core or taken as electives. See department for list of approved courses in each category. These need not be additional courses already included to satisfy other major requirements.

Curriculum requirements from catalogs used before Fall 2008