26.13 Ecology, Evolution, Systematics, and Population Biology

A program that focuses on the scientific study of the relationships and interactions of small-scale biological systems, such as organisms, to each other, to complex and whole systems, and to the physical and other non-biological aspects of their environments. Includes instruction in biogeochemistry; landscape and/or marine/aquatic dynamics; decomposition; global and regional elemental budgets; biotic and abiotic regulation of nutrient cycles; ecophysiology; ecosystem resilience, disturbance, and succession; community and habitat dynamics; organismal interactions (co-evolution, competition, predation); paleoecology; and evolutionary ecology.

A program that focuses on the scientific study of the ecology and behavior of microbes, plants, and animals inhabiting oceans, coastal waters, and saltwater wetlands and their interactions with the physical environment. Includes instruction in chemical, physical, and geological oceanography; molecular, cellular, and biochemical studies; marine microbiology; marine botany; ichthyology; mammalogy; marine population dynamics and biodiversity; reproductive biology; studies of specific species, phyla, habitats, and ecosystems; marine paleocology and palentology; and applications to fields such as fisheries science and biotechnology.

A program that focuses on the scientific study of the genetic, developmental, functional, and morphological patterns and processes, and theoretical principles; and the emergence and mutation of organisms over time. Includes instruction in molecular and morphological systematics; genetics and development; evolutionary transformation; paleobiology and paleontology; morphogenesis; mutation; locomotor, biomechanical and craniodental form and function; evolutionary theory; and systematic biology.

A program that focuses on the scientific study of the ecology and behavior of microbes, plants, and animals inhabiting inland fresh waters such as lakes, ponds, rivers, creeks, estuaries, and wetlands. Includes instruction in geology and hydrology; aquatic ecosystems; microbiology; mycology; botany; ichthyology; mammalogy; population biology and biodiversity; studies of specific species, phyla, and habitats; and applications to fields such as natural resources conservation, fisheries science, and biotechnology.

A program that focuses on the scientific study of the origins, functions, relationships, interactions, and natural history of living populations, communities, species, and ecosystems in relation to dynamic environmental processes. Includes instruction in biodiversity, molecular genetic and genomic evolution, mesoscale ecology, computational biology and modeling, conservation biology, local and global environmental change, and restoration ecology.

A program that focuses on the scientific study of the natural history, life cycle behavior, and ecosystem dynamics of single species and multi-species communities, and the patterns and causes of diversity within and among such populations. Includes instruction in biostatistics, population dynamics, population and quantitative genetics, RNA and DNA sequences, genomics, evolutionary ecology, natural adaptation and hybridization, geographic differentiation, life history and life cycle studies, and animal and plant demography.

A program that focuses on the application of the biological sciences to the specific problems of biodiversity, species preservation, ecological sustainability, and habitat fragmentation in the face of advancing human social, economic, and industrial pressures. Includes instruction in ecology, environmental science, biological systems, extinction theory, human-animal and human-plant interaction, ecosystem science and management, wetland conservation, field biology, forest and wildlife biology, and natural history.

A program that focuses on the theoretical and empirical study of the principles and processes underlying the origin and maintenance of biological taxonomic diversity; related biogeographical and evolutionary patterns; and studies of the origin, diversification, distribution, and extinction of species and lineages. Includes instruction in phylogenetic analysis, structural development and molecular evolution, classification and taxonomic theory, biological nomenclature, taxonomic assignment, evolutionary theory, biological surveys and inventories, computer modeling, and database building.

A program that focuses on the scientific study of disease, disability, and trauma patterns within and across populations and the development of health management mechanisms to prevent and control disease outbreaks and injurious behaviors. Includes instruction in biostatistics, biochemistry, molecular biology, immunology, disease and injury determinants, genetic disease and disability factors, behavioral studies, health services research, environmental disease and injury factors, and population studies.

A program that focuses on the scientific study of the relationships and interactions across levels of biological organization--genes and genomes, organisms, species, and ecosystems--and how these change over time, including the origins and history of species, the processes by which biodiversity has evolved, and the ecological context in which this evolution takes place. Includes instruction in animal, plant, population, functional, evolutionary, and ecosystem ecology; ecological and evolutionary genetics; molecular evolution; population and conservation biology; animal and plant diversity; biometry; and scientific and research ethics.

A program with a general synthesis of epidemiology and biostatistics or a specialization which draws from epidemiology and biostatistics. Includes instruction in biostatistics, disease and injury determinants, epidemiology, health services research, pathology, spatial analysis, and statistics.

Any instructional program in ecology, evolution, and systematics not listed above.