Aquatic Ecosystem Services

3 cr · Undergraduate

This course introduces the field of Ecosystem Services, an analytical framework for evaluating the economic, cultural, and biogeochemical contributions that ecosystems make to human health and well-being. Examples will be drawn from aquatic ecosystems and cover topics such as pollution and contamination cleanup, commercial and subsistence food provisioning, climate regulation, and cultural uses in folklore, art, religion, science, and recreation. A special emphasis will be made on microbes as key drivers of aquatic ecosystems, including topics in microbial diversity, metabolism, and evolution.