GES 604 - Forest Ecology

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A field-intensive course emphasizing forested landscape ecosystems and plant species of the Mid-Atlantic. Our challenge is to understand ecosystems, their physical and biotic characteristics, their relationship to one another in the field, successional trends, and selected aspects of their functioning. This course will stress forest species, and especially (1) field identification and characteristic habitats, (2) establishment ecology, (3) competitive and mutualistic relationships, (4) occurrence and diversity related to habitat conditions, (5) establishment and occurrence in relatively undisturbed (by humans) and disturbed environments, and (6) genetic and non genetic variation of populations, as well as adaptation to specific environments.