ENV 210/703: Conserving the Variety of Life/Conservation Biology: Theory and Practice

Lecture: TuTh 4:40PM - 5:55PM; LSRC A247

Discussion section: 210Tue 1145AM –1PM; LSRC A109

Discussion section: 703Wed 4:40PM – 5:55PM; LSRC A109

PROFESSOR Stuart Pimm; e-mail:; 301 A-wing LSRC; Office hours: 330–430 pm Tuesdays, (best to e-mail in advance to confirm).

TEACHING ASSISTANTS:

Binbin Li

Overview of Lectures

Conservation ecology is the analysis of the earth’s biological diversity, the pathological loss of which constitutes the largest — and irreversible — environmental change of our age. In this course, we will explore some of the main themes in the field of conservation ecology. Broadly, these include:

  • a scientific assessment of the state of life on earth (green on the course schedule);
  • ethical and religious arguments for (or sometimes against) (orange)
  • the practical issues of setting conservation priorities and managing biodiversity (yellow)
  • the practical solutions to handling the economic and social drivers of biodiversity loss (pink)
  • interventions to save species (including the legal context of the Endangered Species Act (blue)
  • particular case histories (gray).

See course schedule for details.

Overview of Discussion Section

The Discussion Section is designed to complement the lecture and actively engage you in exploring the concepts and articulating your thoughts, through a combination of readings, analytic exercises and presentations. Some Discussion Sections will be devoted to exploring the often conflicting perspectives presented in the readings; you may be asked, for example, to argue either for or against a particular position (you will prepare a ~1 page summary of the readings before class). In addition, to help you develop skills of oral argument, two sessions are devoted to honing your skills of public speaking. The final one is mock testimony to a Congressional Committee. See course schedule below for details.

GRADE BASED ON:

  1. Discussion Section reports and active participation in discussion section
  2. two take home exams, and two video presentations

— a total of 250 points. See course schedule sheet for details.

Readings will be on Sakai.

SAKAI WEB SITE

We use Sakai extensively. PowerPoint slides from the lectures should be available there for occasional, unavoidable absences.You also need to access the Web site on a computer with Acrobat, Excel, and MS Word.

ABSENCE FROM DISCUSSION SECTION: In the rare event of an illness or true emergency that prevents a student from accomplishing one of the reports, exercises or presentations, the student must contact Dr. Pimm by e-mail immediately to discuss possible alternate arrangements. If due to illness, you are required to submit the short-term illness form available at:

If you have a legitimate scheduled conflict with an assignment, you must contact Dr. Pimm ahead to time to make alternate arrangements. Clearly, in a course where every week contributes almost equally to the final grade, missing a week is serious. We do understand that things happen beyond our control — and we’ll do what we can to accommodate you. We also experience students who by mid-term have already been absent too many times to get anything better than a C. If persistent absences are a problem, you must contact Dr. Pimm.

THE DUKE COMMUNITY STANDARD (honor code): full text available at:

  • I will not lie, cheat, or steal in my academic endeavors;
  • I will conduct myself honorably in all my endeavors; and
  • I will act if the Standard is compromised.

Discussion Section guidelines (in detail)

Readings and associated Short Reports:

You will be assigned one or more papers or book chapters weekly.

1. In advance, you will prepare a ~1 page report (200 words or less) per paper that presents:

  • objectives of the paper(s)
  • major findings
  • your critical assessment of the paper(s)
  1. You should come to section prepared to:
  • summarize the main points and critical insights that the paper presents.
  • have one or two criticisms, questions or positive comments about the paper.
  • relate the main points of the paper to important issues covered in class.
  1. At the beginning of each section, we will randomly select 2 to 3 people to lead discussion of the readings: be prepared!
  1. Whether you are leading discussion or not, meaningful participation is expected of all. Of course, we understand that some people talk more than others do and some talk too much. But we expect to hear from all of you routinely. If called upon and you do not talk, then you and your discussion leader will need to discuss the problem with Dr. Pimm.

Oral Presentations:

Presenting information orally in a clear and convincing way is a crucial (and for some difficult) skill to develop. You will be expected to give two oral presentations during this class in front of your peers — and a video camera. You will be evaluated mainly on three criteria: content, organization, and presentation. We will provide more specific guidelines before each assignment. One of these will be mock congressional testimony. You will be expected to watch C-SPAN to understand what this is and come dressed appropriately for the presentation.

Finally

The 210 class meets at the same time as its graduate counterpart ENV703, but it lasts one week longer. We devote the two teaching slots and the discussion period to one-on-one (or one-to-few) discussions of your presentations, term paper, questions, etc.