Bachelor of Science - Ecology and Environmental Biology (C520)

The BSc Ecology and Environmental Biology course explores the diversity of the living world, across levels of biological organisation, from genes to individuals, their populations, and the communities they form, up to entire ecosystems.

Building on research produced in the University of Essex's School of Life Sciences, students will examine these concepts across terrestrial, marine, and freshwater systems, examining taxa from smallest microbes to the largest organisms on Earth. This course investigates the role biodiversity plays in supporting ecosystem functions and the flow of ecosystem services on which humanity depends, alongside how biodiversity and ecosystem functioning are changing in response to multiple interacting stressors (eg climate change, chemical pollution, habitat loss etc.) as humans progress in the Anthropocene. Students will develop strong practical and data-handling skills for management solutions to tackle the challenges to ecosystems that the Anthropocene brings. Students will also have the option to train in tropical marine biology in Indonesia, and environmental biology and ecology in the University of Essex's new Arctic field course.