Biology - Organisms and Ecosystems Track, BS
Introduction
The Organisms to Ecosystems Track caters to students interested in pursuing careers in conservation biology, wildlife biology, ecology, evolution and organismal biology. Students in this track may pursue careers at state and federal land agencies (NPS, USFS, BLM, etc.), natural history museums and botanical gardens, zoos and aquariums, the veterinary field, organismal and ecology research, environmental education, environmental consulting, nonprofit advocacy and law, and graduate programs. Consider pairing this major with the Geographic Information Science Certificate.
Program Delivery
- This is an on-campus program.
Declaring This Major
- Click here to go to information about declaring a major.
General Requirements
To earn a degree, students must satisfy all requirements in each of the three areas below, in addition to their individual major requirements.
- CU Denver General Graduation Requirements
- CU Denver Core Curriculum
- College of Liberal Arts & Sciences Graduation Requirements
- Click here for information about Academic Policies
Program Requirements
- Students must complete a minimum of 36 BIOL credit hours.
- Students must complete a minimum of 15 credit hours in ancillary coursework.
- Students must complete a minimum of 18 upper division (3000- level and above) BIOL credit hours.
- Students must earn a minimum grade of C- (1.7) in all courses that apply to the major and must achieve a minimum cumulative major GPA of 2.0. Courses taken using P+/P/F or S/U grading cannot apply to major requirements.
- Students must complete a minimum of 18 upper division (3000-level and above) BIOL credit hours with CU Denver faculty and at least 6 credits must be at 4000-level or higher.
Program Restrictions, Allowances and Recommendations
- Upper division BIOL courses more than ten years old will not count automatically to the Major, but can be evaluated individually for their current relevance to the degree program through a petition process with the Department of Integrative Biology Curriculum Committee. Approval for courses older than ten years is not guaranteed so students may be required to update their knowledge by taking additional courses when past courses are outdated.
- Undergraduate students may count up to six credit hours of independent study or internship (any combination of BIOL 3840 Independent Study, BIOL 3939 Internship, BIOL 4840 Independent Study, BIOL 4880 Directed Research) toward the upper-division Biology electives requirement in the major.
| Code | Title | Hours |
|---|---|---|
| Complete the following required biology courses: | ||
| BIOL 2010 | Organisms to Ecosystems (Gen Bio) | 3 |
| or BIOL 2030 | Honors Organisms to Ecosystems (Gen Bio) | |
| BIOL 2011 | Organisms to Ecosystems Lab (Gen Bio) | 1 |
| or BIOL 2031 | Honors Organisms to Ecosystems Lab (Gen Bio) | |
| BIOL 2020 | Molecules to Cells (Gen Bio) | 3 |
| or BIOL 2040 | Honors Molecules to Cells (Gen Bio) | |
| BIOL 2021 | Molecules to Cells Lab (Gen Bio) | 1 |
| or BIOL 2041 | Honors Molecules to Cells Lab (Gen Bio) | |
| BIOL 3350 | Diversity of Life | 3 |
| BIOL 3411 | Principles of Ecology | 3 |
| BIOL 3445 | Introduction to Evolution | 3 |
| BIOL 3832 | General Genetics | 3 |
| or BIOL 3124 | Introduction to Molecular Biology | |
| Choose at least two lab classes from the following list, or one lab class and one experiential class (minimum two credit hours): | ||
| Ecology Laboratory | ||
| Mammalogy | ||
| General Microbiology Lab | ||
| Molecular Biology Laboratory | ||
| Plant Structure and Development | ||
| Flora of Colorado | ||
| Field Studies | ||
| Remote Sensing I: Introduction to Environmental Remote Sensing | ||
| Introduction to GIS | ||
| Mountain Biogeography | ||
| Beeography: Geography of Bees | ||
| Experiential classes (Consider taking a class at the CU Boulder Mountain Research Station and transferring it (speak with your advisor): | ||
| Independent Study (Must have an organismal/ecosystem component) | ||
| Internship (Must have an organismal/ecosystem component) | ||
| Directed Research (Must have an organismal/ecosystem component) | ||
| Complete the following required ancillary classes: | ||
| CHEM 2031 | General Chemistry I | 3 |
| or CHEM 2081 | Honors General Chemistry I | |
| CHEM 2038 | General Chemistry Laboratory I | 1 |
| or CHEM 2039 | Majors General Chemistry I Laboratory | |
| or CHEM 2088 | Honors General Chemistry I Laboratory | |
| CHEM 2061 | General Chemistry II | 3 |
| or CHEM 2091 | Honors General Chemistry II Lecture | |
| CHEM 2068 | General Chemistry Laboratory II | 2 |
| or CHEM 2069 | Majors General Chemistry II Laboratory | |
| or CHEM 2098 | Honors General Chemistry II Laboratory | |
| Choose one quantitative class from this list (certain biology careers may require more math, speak with your advisor): | 3-4 | |
| Biostatistics | ||
| Calculus I | ||
| Applied Statistics | ||
| Choose one writing intensive class from this list: | 3 | |
| Rhetorics of Medicine & Health | ||
| Technical Writing (also satisfies CLAS Communicative Skills requirement) | ||
| Writing in the Sciences (also satisfies CLAS Communicative Skills requirement) | ||
| Argumentation and Logic (also satisfies CLAS Humanities requirement) | ||
| Proposal and Grant Writing (also satisfies CLAS Humanities requirement) | ||
| Choose at least two upper division BIOL 4000 level classes from this list, that have not already been taken above, must be from UCD faculty: | 6 | |
| Introduction to Biotechnology | ||
| Advanced Ecology | ||
| Infectious Disease Ecology | ||
| Virology | ||
| Molecular Biology Laboratory | ||
| Molecular Genetics | ||
| Topics in Molecular Biology | ||
| Conservation Biology | ||
| Genomics and Bioinformatics | ||
| Mechanisms of Animal Behavior | ||
| Plant Structure and Development | ||
| Flora of Colorado | ||
| Applied Microbial Ecology | ||
| Biogeography | ||
| Environmental Toxicology | ||
| Population and Evolutionary Genetics | ||
| Aquatic Ecology | ||
| Choose at least two classes from the following list that have not already been taken above (be sure to reach 36 credits in BIOL): | ||
| Biology Career and Professional Development Seminar | ||
| Behavioral Genetics | ||
| Introduction to Molecular Biology | ||
| Advanced Topics | ||
| Advanced Special Topics with Lab | ||
| Plant Diversity | ||
| Ecology Laboratory | ||
| Vertebrate Biology | ||
| Parasitology | ||
| General Cell Biology | ||
| Cell Biology Laboratory | ||
| Mammalogy | ||
| General Microbiology | ||
| General Microbiology Lab | ||
| Developmental Biology | ||
| General Genetics | ||
| Independent Study | ||
| Internship | ||
| Introduction to Biotechnology | ||
| Advanced Biology Topics | ||
| Advanced Ecology | ||
| Infectious Disease Ecology | ||
| Virology | ||
| Molecular Biology Laboratory | ||
| Molecular Genetics | ||
| Topics in Molecular Biology | ||
| Conservation Biology | ||
| Genomics and Bioinformatics | ||
| Mechanisms of Animal Behavior | ||
| Environmental Physiology. | ||
| Plant Structure and Development | ||
| Flora of Colorado | ||
| Applied Microbial Ecology | ||
| Biogeography | ||
| Environmental Toxicology | ||
| Population and Evolutionary Genetics | ||
| Aquatic Ecology | ||
| Directed Research | ||
| Environmental Chemistry | ||
| Landscape Biogeochemistry | ||
| Remote Sensing I: Introduction to Environmental Remote Sensing | ||
| Introduction to GIS | ||
| Sustainability in Resources Management | ||
| Climate Change: Causes, Impacts and Solutions | ||
| Mountain Biogeography | ||
| Beeography: Geography of Bees | ||
| Total Hours | 41-42 | |
To learn more about the Student Learning Outcomes for this program, please visit our website.
To review the Degree Map for this program, please visit our website.