IB 106

Credit: 3 hours.

Examines the role of extinction in shaping the history of life on Earth. Explores the "big five" extinction events - including the two mass extinctions that mark the rise and fall of the dinosaur - and other periods of rapid ecological change. Lecture and discussion examine the causes of these mass extinctions on the past, and studies how animal and plant life recovered from them. A major theme of the course will be the ongoing modern extinction crisis, the lessons we can learn from the past when addressing modern biodiversity loss, from the loss of the dodo bird in the 17th century to the threat of extinction faced by polar bears and other plants and animals today.

Same as ESE 126 and GEOL 106.

This course satisfies the General Education Criteria in Fall 2022 for: