Conservation Biology

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 Major offered 

Students majoring in Conservation Biology may not also double-major or minor in Biology or in the Biochemistry, Biomedical Sciences, Neuroscience, Biology-Physics, Biology–Environmental Studies combined major. First-year students considering a Conservation Biology major should seek early advisement from a faculty member and should begin the introductory courses required for the major in the first year.  

More information on this multidisciplinary major can be found at https://www.stlawu.edu/offices/conservation-biology. 

Major Requirements 

Conservation Biology majors must complete a predetermined set of courses (outlined below). Students should take BIOL 221 (Ecology with lab) as soon as possible following completion of BIOL 101 and BIOL 102.  Students are strongly encouraged to complete some study outside of northeastern North America through study abroad, study at a biological field station, or through participation in certain courses with a travel component. Students may count up to two courses taken while abroad toward the requirements for the major as long as the courses meet major requirements. 

Required Courses  

Full course descriptions can be found by visiting the Catalog section for the sponsoring department. 

I. Core Courses 

Students must take all of the following courses: 

BIOL 101 and 102. General Biology  

BIOL 221. General Ecology 

BIOL 245. Genetics or BIOL 343 Evolution 

BIOL 440. Conservation Biology (seniors only) 

II. Social Science/Environmental Studies Electives 

Students must take 2 of the following 6 courses from 2 different departments: 

GS 101. Intro Political Economy 

ENVS 101. Our Shared Environment  

ECON 100. Intro. Economics  

GOV 103. Intro. American Politics  

GOV 105. Comparative Politics  

GOV 108. Intro. International Relations  

III. Allied Science or Math Courses 

Students must complete one of the following options: 

  1. CHEM 103 and CHEM 104. General Chemistry (both with lab) 

  1. STAT 113. Applied Statistics and GS 233. Geographic Information Systems w/ Lab 

  1. Take two of the following Geology courses: GEOL 103. Dynamic Earth w/ Lab, GEOL 104. Historical Geology, GEOL 112. Global Climate w/ Lab, or GEOL 115. Oceanography 

  1. Any two of the following Math, Computer Science and Statistics courses: 

  • STAT 113. Applied Statistics  

  • STAT 213. Applied Regression Analysis 

  • MATH 135. Calculus I 

  • MATH 136. Calculus II 

  • CS 140. Intro. To Computer Programming 

  • CS 219. Techniques of Computer Science 

Electives 

Conservation Biology majors must complete an additional 6 electives, of which one must be an advanced ecology course, two must be organismal diversity courses (one about a non-animal taxonomic group) and one must be a global perspectives elective. The remaining two electives must be drawn from the advanced ecology group, the organismal diversity group or from a specified set of upper-level electives (see below). If the remaining two electives are both drawn from the specified set of upper-level electives, at least one of the two must be from the Biology department offerings. Approved courses are listed below. Students may petition the major coordinator to have other courses fulfill these electives. Students may count up to two courses taken while abroad toward the requirements for the major. 

Advanced ecology electives (one required): 

BIOL 330. Ecology of Lakes and Rivers (with lab)  

BIOL 357 Behavioral Ecology  

BIOL 380. Tropical Ecology 

And certain special topics courses. 

Organismal Diversity electives (two required, one must be about a non-animal taxon and a maximum of two vertebrate courses will count toward the major):  

BIOL 209. Vertebrate Natural History (with lab) 

BIOL 215. Arthropods and Other Invertebrates (with lab)  

BIOL 218. Ornithology (with lab)  

BIOL 224. Biology of Plants (with lab)  

BIOL 227. Mammalogy (with lab)  

BIOL 231. Microbiology (with lab)  

BIOL 258. Ethnobotany (with lab)  

BIOL 319. Plant Systematics (with lab)  

BIOL 325. Mycology (with lab)  

GEOL 206. Paleontology  

GEOL 217. Dinosaurs  

And certain special topics courses. 

Other Upper-level electives:  

  • BIOL 230. Food from the Sea (with lab) 

  • BIOL 242. Biodiversity Conservation and Management in East Africa (Kenya Semester Program) 

  • BIOL 260: Once and Future Oceans 

  • BIOL 489, 490, or 499. SYE Research. Maximum 1 unit counted toward major. 

  • ENVS 369. Ecological Restoration 

  • ENVS 370. Global Amphibian Decline 

  • ENVS 371. Landscape Ecology 

  • GEOL 340. Conservation Paleobiology 

And certain special topics courses. 

Global Perspectives elective (one required). Global perspectives electives investigate the environment through a non-scientific, non-Western or non-North American lens.  

  • AFS 337. Cultural, Environment and Development in East Africa (Kenya Semester Program) 

  • ANTH 102. Cultural Anthropology 

  • ANTH 251. Humans and Other Animals 

  • ECON 236. Globalization Issues: Equity, the Environment and Economic Growth 

  • ECON 308. Environmental Economics 

  • ECON 384. Natural Resource Economics 

  • ENG 231. Adirondack Literature 

  • ENG 293. A Literary Harvest 

  • ENG 295. Nature and Environmental Writing 

  • ENG 334. Reading the Land: Pastoral and Georgic Literature 

  • ENG 346. American Literature and the Environment 

  • ENG 352. Contemporary Literature and the Environment 

  • ENVS 261. Sustainable Agriculture 

  • ENVS 263. Global Change and Sustainability 

  • GOV 343. Ecology and Political Thought 

  • GS 259. Global-local Environmentalisms 

  • GS 301. Theories of Global Political Economy 

  • GS 324. Global Public Goods: Exploring Solutions for the 21st Century 

  • GS 365. Rethinking Population, Health and Environment 

  • HIST 213. Global Environmental History 

  • PCA 334. Environmental Communication 

  • PHIL 310. Philosophy of the Environment 

  • REL 103. Religion and Ecology 

  • SOC 187. Environment and Society 

  • SOC 253. Race, Class and Environmental Justice 

  • SOC 269. Population and Natural Resources 

  • SOC 465. Environmental Sociology 

And certain special topics courses. 

Please see the Conservation Biology website for additional courses that will fulfill the Global Perspectives elective. Students may work with their advisor to petition for other courses to fulfill the global perspectives elective. 

Students are encouraged to consider taking at least one semester of independent research with a faculty member and to study a foreign language, but doing so is not a requirement of the major. 

Independent Research  

Students who wish to conduct independent research may do so by taking customized research methods courses (BIOL 381 and 382), or as seniors, by taking tutorial research courses (BIOL 468 and 469)  or experimental and field research courses (BIOL 489 and 490). Students must discuss possible projects with members of the biology faculty. For more detail, see www.stlawu.edu/conservation-biology. 

Honors 

To graduate with honors in conservation biology requires 1 unit of BIOL468 SYE: Biology Capstone I or BIOL489 SYE: Biology Capstone Original Research I, and 1 unit of BIOL499 SYE: Biology Capstone Honors, a 3.5 major GPA, submission of a signed honors nomination form, a thesis, a public presentation, and approval of the honors project committee. BIOL468 or BIOL489 may not be taken in the same semester as BIOL499. A student wishing to be considered for honors in conservation biology should enroll in BIOL 468, or BIOL489 during the first semester of their biology capstone experience (usually, but not limited to, the fall semester of the senior year) for 1 unit of credit. The student, in consultation with the project advisor, should choose an honors project committee comprised of the project advisor and two other faculty members appropriate to the topic (one of these two may be from another department). This honors committee should be formed as soon as possible in the first semester of the capstone experience.

At the end of the first semester, the honors project advisor, in consultation with the other members of the honors committee, evaluates a formal research proposal and progress toward the completion of the project. If the project is deemed worthy of honors in biology, the student is nominated as a candidate for honors and submits the honors nomination form to one of the department co-chairs. The student can then enroll in BIOL 499 SYE: Biology Capstone Honors for the second (usually spring) semester for 1 unit of credit. However, BIOL499 does not count toward the minimum requirements of the major. 

Students wishing to conduct an honors project should consult with potential project advisors by the end of the junior year.