Requirements Fulfilled:
General Education - This program fulfills the Global Perspectives general education requirement for students who successfully complete 8 or more semester credits.
IS 295 fulfills the Culture, Power, and Identity general education requirement.
Major / Minor Requirements - The Biology courses may be counted towards the BIO major.
Credits: 17 credits (4 courses)
Curriculum:
IS 294: Cultural Ecology of New Zealand (4 credits)
Overview of New Zealand’s approach to the conservation of its indigenous biota. Lecture-based material will cover New Zealand’s policy and planning approach, provide examples of conservation practice focused on single endangered species, outline the increasing importance of landscape restoration, and discuss challenges to the conservation ethic arising from unsustainable human resource use and short-term economics. Field visits to sites of active conservation management will demonstrate a wide range of practices and a diversity of conservation ambition. Presentations at field sites by people doing the conservation work will emphasize the diversity of conservation action undertaken in New Zealand.
IS 295: Repeated Colonization, a History of New Zealand (4 credits)
Emphasis on original colonization by Polynesians, and secondary colonization by Europeans. Effect of history on the political system, present-day economy, and the environment. Will cover pre- European history, current government and legislative processes, health, education, and other services, New Zealand’s current role in the international community.
BIO 377: Physiological Ecology of New Zealand Flora and Fauna (4 credits)
Physiological ecology is the study of mechanistic interactions between physiology and the physical environment (e.g. temperature, humidity, oxygen tension). The unique evolutionary history of New Zealand (NZ) species adds the dimension of phylogenetic constraint to the study of physiological adaptation to the extreme environments found there. Global climate change, habitat loss, and invasion by introduced species bring relevance to the study of how NZ animals and plants interact with their environment, and how their evolutionary history has constrained them to adapt in particular (and peculiar) ways.
BIO 410: Biogeography & Evolution in New Zealand (5 credits)
Continental drift is one of the most revolutionary ideas in the history of science. Drift was not universally accepted by the mainstream scientific community in the 1970s, and its implications have still not been fully integrated in our understanding of patterns of distribution of species (biogeography). Prior to the drift hypothesis, dispersal across large distances, and over significant barriers, was the principle hypothesis for all patterns of biogeography. In contrast, the model of continental drift provides a mechanism of vicariance, a process that divides the range of a species by imposing a barrier to dispersal. BENZ will explore how New Zealand’s natural history has evolved to be so different from that found on continental landmasses, yet shares remarkable similarities with parts of South America and ancient Antarctica. Lectures will focus on 1) New Zealand’s geological origin, 2) basic principles of historical biogeography and 3) island ecology, 4) the evolution in isolation of New Zealand’s flora and fauna, and 5) special vulnerabilities as a consequence of introductions of exotic biota by humans. Field trips will give hands-on experience with native plants and animals, and demonstrate principles covered in the lectures.
