Hope in the Face of Mass Extinctions

4 units · Undergraduate upper division (100-199)

Lecture, three hours; discussion, one hour. Requisite: course 1 or 2 or Atmospheric and Oceanic Sciences 1 or Earth, Planetary, and Space Sciences 16 or Ecology and Evolutionary Biology 12. Discussion of the commonalities and historical contingencies between extinction events with respect to factors like global climate change, changing continental configuration and habitat connectivity, species’ geographic distributions and dispersal ability, and their interactions. Focus on anthropogenic climate change, the ongoing biodiversity crisis, and ways to mitigate their effects (conservation strategies, community-led and nature-based climate adaptations, and de-extinction technologies). P/NP or letter grading.