À¦°óSMÉçÇø

Biodiversity and Conservation Domain

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Biodiversity and Conservation Domain

This domain is open only to students in the B.Sc.(Ag.Env.Sc.) Major Environment or B.Sc. Major Environment program.

Advisor Mentor
  • Ms Kathy Roulet
  • Email: kathy.roulet [at] mcgill.ca
  • Telephone: 514-398-4306
  • Professor Graham Bell
  • Email: graham.bell [at] mcgill.ca
  • Telephone: 514-398-6485

Bachelor of Science (Agricultural and Environmental Sciences) (B.Sc.(Ag.Env.Sc.)) or Bachelor of Science (B.Sc.) - Major Environment - Biodiversity and Conservation (63 credits)

This Domain (63 credits including Core) is open only to students in the B.Sc.(Ag.Env.Sc.) Major in Environment or B.Sc. Major in Environment program.

This Domain links the academic study of biological diversity with the applied field of conservation biology. The study of biological diversity, or "biodiversity", lies at the intersection of evolution with ecology and genetics, combining the subdisciplines of evolutionary ecology, evolutionary genetics and ecological genetics. It has two main branches, the creation of diversity and the maintenance of diversity. Both processes are governed by a general mechanism of selection acting over different scales of space and time. This gives rise to a distinctive set of principles and generalizations that regulate rates of diversification and levels of diversity, as well as the abundance or rarity of different species. Conservation biology constitutes the application of these principles in the relevant social and economic context to the management of natural systems, with the object of preventing the extinction of rare species and maintaining the diversity of communities. As the impact of industrialization and population growth on natural systems has become more severe, conservation has emerged as an important area of practical endeavour.

Suggested First Year (U1) Courses

For suggestions on courses to take in your first year (U1), you can consult the "MSE Student Handbook 2010-11" available on the MSE website (/mse), or contact Ms. Kathy Roulet, the Program Advisor (kathy.roulet [at] mcgill.ca).

Program Requirements

NOTE: Students are required to take a maximum of 30 credits at the 200-level and a minimum of 12 credits at the 400-level or higher in this program. This includes Core and Required courses.

Location Note: When planning their schedule and registering for courses, students should verify where each course is offered because courses for this program are taught at both À¦°óSMÉçÇø's downtown campus and at the Macdonald Campus in Ste. Anne de Bellevue.

Core: Required Courses (18 credits)

Location Note: Core required courses are taught at both À¦°óSMÉçÇø's downtown campus and at the Macdonald campus in Ste. Anne de Bellevue. You should register in Section 001 of an ENVR course that you plan to take on the downtown campus, and in Section 051 of an ENVR course that you plan to take on the Macdonald campus.

ENVR 200 (3) The Global Environment
ENVR 201 (3) Society and Environment
ENVR 202 (3) The Evolving Earth
ENVR 203 (3) Knowledge, Ethics and Environment
ENVR 301 (3) Environmental Research Design
ENVR 400 (3) Environmental Thought

Core: Complementary Course - Senior Research Project (3 credits)

Only 3 credits will be applied to the program; extra credits will count as electives.

AGRI 519 (6) Sustainable Development Plans
ENVR 401 (3) Environmental Research
ENVR 451 (6) Research in Panama

Domain: Complementary Courses (42 credits)

42 credits of complementary courses are selected as follows:

9 credits - basic courses in the biological principles of diversity, systematics and conservation

3 credits - ecology

3 credits - statistics

9 credits - interface between science, policy and management

3 credits - field courses

6 credits - general scientific principles

3 credits - social science

6 credits - organisms and diversity

Biological Principles of Diversity/Systematics/Conservation:

9 credits are chosen from basic courses in the biological principles of diversity, systematics and conservation as follows:

one of:

AEBI 212 (3) Evolution and Phylogeny
BIOL 304 (3) Evolution

one of:

AEBI 211 (3) Organisms 2
BIOL 305 (3) Animal Diversity

one of:

BIOL 465 (3) Conservation Biology
WILD 421 (3) Wildlife Conservation

Ecology:

one of:

BIOL 308 (3) Ecological Dynamics
ENVB 305 (3) Population & Community Ecology

Statistics:

one of:

AEMA 310 (3) Statistical Methods 1
BIOL 373 (3) Biometry

Science, Policy and Management:

9 credits are chosen from interface between science, policy and management as follows:

* Note: you may take ECON 208 or AGEC 200 but not both.

AGEC 200* (3) Principles of Microeconomics
AGRI 550 (3) Sustained Tropical Agriculture
ANTH 418 (3) Environment and Development
ECON 208* (3) Microeconomic Analysis and Applications
ECON 225 (3) Economics of the Environment
GEOG 302 (3) Environmental Management 1
GEOG 370 (3) Protected Areas
GEOG 380 (3) Adaptive Environmental Management
GEOG 408 (3) Geography of Development
GEOG 410 (3) Geography of Underdevelopment: Current Problems

Field Courses

one of:

AGRI 452 (3) Water Resources in Barbados
BIOL 331 (3) Ecology/Behaviour Field Course
BIOL 334 (3) Applied Tropical Ecology
BIOL 553 (3) Neotropical Environments
GEOG 495 (3) Field Studies - Physical Geography
GEOG 497 (3) Ecology of Coastal Waters
GEOG 499 (3) Subarctic Field Studies
WILD 475 (3) Desert Ecology

General Scientific Principles

6 credits of general scientific principles selected from the following:

* Note: you may take GEOG 306 or NRSC 430 but not both.

(A second field course from the Domain curriculum may also be taken)

BIOL 324 (3) Ecological Genetics
BIOL 341 (3) History of Life
BIOL 342 (3) Marine Biology
BIOL 432 (3) Limnology
BIOL 441 (3) Biological Oceanography
BIOL 505 (3) Diversity and Systematics Seminar
ENVB 313 (3) Phylogeny and Biogeography
ENVB 315 (3) Science of Inland Waters
ENVB 410 (3) Ecosystem Ecology
GEOG 272 (3) Earth's Changing Surface
GEOG 306* (3) Raster Geo-Information Science
GEOG 321 (3) Climatic Environments
GEOG 322 (3) Environmental Hydrology
GEOG 350 (3) Ecological Biogeography
MICR 331 (3) Microbial Ecology
NRSC 430* (3) GIS for Natural Resource Management
NRSC 437 (3) Assessing Environmental Impact
PLNT 460 (3) Plant Ecology
WILD 311 (3) Ethology
WILD 410 (3) Wildlife Ecology
WOOD 420 (3) Environmental Issues: Forestry

Social Science:

one of:

* Note: If WILD 415 is taken, 1 additional credit of complementary courses must be taken.

AGEC 333 (3) Resource Economics
ANTH 339 (3) Ecological Anthropology
ANTH 416 (3) Environment/Development: Africa
ECON 326 (3) Ecological Economics
GEOG 404 (3) Environmental Management 2
GEOG 498 (3) Humans in Tropical Environments
GEOG 510 (3) Humid Tropical Environments
URBP 520 (3) Globalization: Planning and Change
WILD 415* (2) Conservation Law

Organisms and Diversity:

6 credits of organisms and diversity selected as follows:

* Note: you may take BIOL 350 or ENTO 350 but not both; you may take BIOL 540 or ENVR 540 but not both.

AGRI 340 (3) Principles of Ecological Agriculture
ANTH 311 (3) Primate Behaviour and Ecology
BIOL 335 (3) Marine Mammals
BIOL 350* (3) Insect Biology and Control
BIOL 355 (3) Trees: Ecology & Evolution
BIOL 427 (3) Herpetology
BIOL 540* (3) Ecology of Species Invasions
ENTO 350* (3) Insect Biology and Control
ENTO 352 (3) Control of Insect Pests
ENTO 440 (3) Insect Diversity
ENVR 540* (3) Ecology of Species Invasions
PLNT 304 (3) Biology of Fungi
PLNT 358 (3) Flowering Plant Diversity
PLNT 458 (3) Flowering Plant Systematics
WILD 307 (3) Natural History of Vertebrates
WILD 350 (3) Mammalogy
WILD 420 (3) Ornithology
WILD 424 (3) Parasitology
À¦°óSMÉçÇø School of Environment—2010-2011 (last updated Apr. 22, 2010) (disclaimer)
À¦°óSMÉçÇø School of Environment—2010-2011 (last updated Apr. 22, 2010) (disclaimer)
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