University at Buffalo - The State University of New York

Published: October 19, 2006

By ELLEN GOLDBAUM
Contributing Editor

A new multidisciplinary graduate program in evolution, ecology and behavior that focuses on the interactions between organisms and their environments over time is being offered by the College of Arts and Sciences.

It will grant both master's and doctoral degrees.

"Through our alteration of the environment, humans are in the midst of one of the largest ecological and evolutionary experiments in the history of life—the combined effects of habitat destruction by human population growth and climate change brought about by increased levels of greenhouse gasses," said Howard Lasker, professor of geology and director of the program. "The creation of the program at this time is particularly important."

Students in the program are able to choose from a wide variety of classroom and field courses, some of which provide unique opportunities, such as conducting tropical marine research in the Bahamas or learning about animal behavior based on observations of animals at the Buffalo Zoo.

Lasker said that the new program evolved out of a UB graduate group in evolutionary biology and ecology that has existed for nearly two decades, providing an opportunity for students and faculty from a broad range of departments with common interests to share research and ideas.

"This program codifies some things that we already were doing and creates a kind of 'one-stop shop' for students interested in a broad range of fields related to ecology, evolution and behavior," he said.

Faculty and course offerings are drawn primarily from the departments of Anthropology, Biological Sciences, Geography, Geology and Psychology within the College of Arts and Sciences.

The program is appropriate for students who wish to study applied and basic topics such as human origins (paleoanthropology), biodiversity over space (community ecology) and time (paleobiology), the function and evolution of body plans and life histories (evolutionary ecology), the origins of social systems (socioecology), the effects of climate change and biotic invasions on ecosystems and conservation.

"As society comes to terms with the increasing consequences of anthropogenic alteration of the earth's climate and its ecosystems, the need for research and researchers in these areas will continue to grow," said Lasker.

The program is designed to train researchers, educators, managers, regulators and others for fields related to evolution, ecology and behavior.

In addition to master's and doctoral degrees, the program also offers a certificate for students in other degree programs who wish to increase their exposure to topics in evolution, ecology and behavior.

The following faculty are participating in the program: Carol Berman, professor in the Department of Anthropology; Derek Taylor, associate professor in the Department of Biological Sciences; Chris S. Larsen, assistant professor in the Department of Geography; Mary Alice Coffroth, associate professor, Howard Lasker, professor, and Charles Mitchell, professor, all in the Department of Geology; Frank Mendel, professor in the Department of Pathology and Anatomical Sciences in the School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences; and Mark Kristal, professor, and Eduardo Mercado, assistant professor, in the Department of Psychology.

Additional information is available at http://wings.buffalo.edu/fnsm/geog/ggebe/.