This website is the landing page for the UCLA course California Ecosystems in the Ecology and Evolutionary Biology Department. Click below for a more detailed description of the course objectives. Over the course of this 10-week class, students will develop online field guides for various ecosystems accross California. Navigate to the Online California Field Guide to begin exploring national parks and preserves, hiking trails, local flora and faune, and much more!
California Ecosystems explores different ecosystems in the highly diverse state of California, with a focus on Southern California. We explore animals and plants endemic to the area, protected landscapes, fire ecology, and water resources. We discuss topics including biodiversity, scarcity of resources, environmental protection, and human impact on the environment. In lecture, we discuss the ecology and unique life found in chaparral, coastal sage scrub, grassland, wetland, montane, coastal, oak woodland, riparian, and desert ecosystems. Each week students have lectures followed by virtual field trips, to explore the different ecosystems first hand and to observe ecological projects that are underway. The main goal of this course is to give senior level ecology students exposure to different field projects in California ecosystems, to help support and inspire their future endeavors in the field of ecology.