Litvak Teaching
Global Change Biology BIO 480/580 (offered every Fall semester)
This course is designed as an advanced ecology course that focuses primarily on biological responses to global change, human impacts on the biosphere, and potential solutions. We cover a range of topics from large-scale ecosystem and community impacts down to physiological responses of organisms and feedbacks between these scales. The goal is for students to come away from this course with a 1) basic knowledge to understand the extent to which the biosphere has changed, is changing, and will change at multiple levels of organization, 2) the ability to understand the scientific approaches and tools that are being employed in the study of global change processes and mechanisms, and 3) understanding of the kinds of responses that society may implement to deal with global-change threats. This course gives a broad overview of important questions, evidence, and current research related to global change biology. It is interdisciplinary.
Form and Function BIO 304L (offered every semester, rotates among faculty)
This course is the fourth in our four-course core series for biology majors at UNM. The emphasis of this course is to learn about the relationship between organismal structure and function, with particular attention to inquiry-based labs that allow students to learn concepts and the application of the scientific method. I teach the plant-half every 2-4 semesters.
Ecosystem Dynamics BIO 405/505 (rotate, offered every 4th semester)
This is an upper division course discussing principles of ecosystem function using the diversity of the LTER network for examples.
Ecosystem Studies BIO 514 (rotate, offered every 4th semester)
This course is designed as graduate-level ecology course that focuses on the structure, function, and dynamics of terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems. This subject matter in particular is concerned with material and energy exchange among ecosystem components, and fluxes of energy and matter between the biosphere, atmosphere, soils, water, and anthrosphere. Students will gain from this course a 1) basic knowledge of ecosystem structure and function, generalized to all ecosystems, and specific to terrestrial ecosystems and aquatic ecosystems especially in arid lands; 2) an understanding of the drivers of ecosystem change, especially anthropogenic drivers; 3) an ability to understand the scientific approaches, tools, and experiments used to study ecosystems; and 4) an ability to craft a proposal for a research investigation focused on ecosystem structure, function, or dynamics.
This course is designed as an advanced ecology course that focuses primarily on biological responses to global change, human impacts on the biosphere, and potential solutions. We cover a range of topics from large-scale ecosystem and community impacts down to physiological responses of organisms and feedbacks between these scales. The goal is for students to come away from this course with a 1) basic knowledge to understand the extent to which the biosphere has changed, is changing, and will change at multiple levels of organization, 2) the ability to understand the scientific approaches and tools that are being employed in the study of global change processes and mechanisms, and 3) understanding of the kinds of responses that society may implement to deal with global-change threats. This course gives a broad overview of important questions, evidence, and current research related to global change biology. It is interdisciplinary.
Form and Function BIO 304L (offered every semester, rotates among faculty)
This course is the fourth in our four-course core series for biology majors at UNM. The emphasis of this course is to learn about the relationship between organismal structure and function, with particular attention to inquiry-based labs that allow students to learn concepts and the application of the scientific method. I teach the plant-half every 2-4 semesters.
Ecosystem Dynamics BIO 405/505 (rotate, offered every 4th semester)
This is an upper division course discussing principles of ecosystem function using the diversity of the LTER network for examples.
Ecosystem Studies BIO 514 (rotate, offered every 4th semester)
This course is designed as graduate-level ecology course that focuses on the structure, function, and dynamics of terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems. This subject matter in particular is concerned with material and energy exchange among ecosystem components, and fluxes of energy and matter between the biosphere, atmosphere, soils, water, and anthrosphere. Students will gain from this course a 1) basic knowledge of ecosystem structure and function, generalized to all ecosystems, and specific to terrestrial ecosystems and aquatic ecosystems especially in arid lands; 2) an understanding of the drivers of ecosystem change, especially anthropogenic drivers; 3) an ability to understand the scientific approaches, tools, and experiments used to study ecosystems; and 4) an ability to craft a proposal for a research investigation focused on ecosystem structure, function, or dynamics.