ASU SoLS - Integrative Graduate Education in the Life Sciences

The IGELS graduate concentration in ECOLOGY offers comprehensive training in ecological science across different levels of biological organization, including physiological ecology, behavioral ecology, evolutionary biology, population ecology, community ecology, ecosystem ecology, and landscape ecology, as well as more applied areas such as restoration ecology, conservation biology, and sustainability science. Ecology is defined as "the scientific study of the processes influencing the distribution and abundance of organisms, the interaction among organisms, and the interaction between organisms and the transformation and flux of energy and matter" (Likens 1992). Furthermore, understanding of and solutions to environmental problems at local, regional, and global scales often dictate an interdisciplinary approach, and the ECOLOGY concentration interfaces with developing initiatives within SoLS in the social and human sciences, between SoLS and earth science disciplines in the Biogeochemistry area, as well as with other units including Geography, the School of Human Evolution and Social Change, Geological Sciences, and Civil and Environmental Engineering. ECOLOGY concentration students receive background training in relevant disciplines but also have opportunities to develop critical skill in interacting with practitioners of other fields.