Out of the Woods: Advanced Reading in Conservation and Ecology
Course Description
Summary
The idea of old growth forests evokes romantic notions of "wild" and "natural" landscapes, especially in Vermont where our settler-colonial history includes rapid and widespread deforestation for logging and agriculture. How do ecologists identify "old growth" and what lessons about ecological structure, function, and processes can we learn from these places? Bennington College is home to one of the preeminent old growth researchers, faculty emeritus Kerry Woods, who taught ecology here from 1986 through 2021. Kerry's prolific career includes work in paleoecology, long-term forest monitoring, and landscape ecology during a formative time in the field of ecology. In this class, we will explore forest dynamics and the evolution of our understanding of old growth through the lens of Kerry Woods's peer-reviewed papers. We’ll unpack how scientists have defined and framed old growth in papers spanning four decades of research. Finally, we will connect our ecological understandings of old growth to conservation policy-making and management.
Learning Outcomes
- Read and interpret peer-reviewed literature in the fields of conservation and ecology.
- Evaluate how ecology research is used to support conservation management. Insert yourself into the scholarly conversations on old growth, conservation, and management.
- Reflect on individual approaches to reading, research, and writing in STEM. Examine and assess your (maybe unconscious) practices, and identify the strategies that best support your process.
Prerequisites
Prior biology course and instructor's permission. Please fill out this form to apply: https://forms.gle/1vrWdwAQH9fJUy799
Please contact the faculty member : cmcdonoughmackenzie@bennington.edu
Cross List
- Environment