The syllabus

• First 40% of course deals with the biology of small populations

• Middle 40% of the course deals with reserve design and with ecosystem and habitat conservation

  These are often complementary but need not be

  • Few species on Federal list of endangered species in Connecticut, but we have the largest tidal undisturbed tidal marsh habitats in the Northeast

  • Clarkia tembloriensis subsp.  calientensis--Only three or four known populations, each with 100 or fewer individuals. The habitat? Completely unremarkable sand hills near Bakersfield, California that are otherwise uninteresting biologically.

• Final 20% of the course deals with patterns and values associated with biodiversity

  There are many relevant topics we won't deal with at all:

  • Pollution--air, water, groundwater, disposal of radioactive waste, pesticides, electromagnetic fields

  • Resources--energy, forest products, petroleum products, climate change⁵

  • Population

  • Politics--how to get policy recommendations implemented, how political constraints affect policy recommendations, although we will deal a little bit with the economics of biodiversity conservation⁶