2025-2026 Academic Catalog

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Biology - Organisms and Ecosystems Track, BS

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.

Program Requirements

  1. Students must complete a minimum of 36 BIOL credit hours 
  2. Students must complete a minimum of 15 credit hours in ancillary coursework. 
  3. Students must complete a minimum of 18 upper division (3000- level and above) BIOL credit hours.
  4. 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.
  5. 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

  1. 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not guaranteed so students may be required to update their knowledge by taking additional courses when past courses are outdated.    
  2. Undergraduate students may count up to six credit hours of independent study or internship (any combination of BIOL 3840 Independent StudyBIOL 3939 InternshipBIOL 4840 Independent Study, BIOL 4880 Directed Research) toward the upper-division Biology electives requirement in the major.
Complete the following required biology courses:
BIOL 2010Organisms to Ecosystems (Gen Bio)3
or BIOL 2030 Honors Organisms to Ecosystems (Gen Bio)
BIOL 2011Organisms to Ecosystems Lab (Gen Bio)1
or BIOL 2031 Honors Organisms to Ecosystems Lab (Gen Bio)
BIOL 2020Molecules to Cells (Gen Bio)3
or BIOL 2040 Honors Molecules to Cells (Gen Bio)
BIOL 2021Molecules to Cells Lab (Gen Bio)1
or BIOL 2041 Honors Molecules to Cells Lab (Gen Bio)
BIOL 3350Diversity of Life3
BIOL 3411Principles of Ecology3
BIOL 3445Introduction to Evolution3
BIOL 3832General Genetics3
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
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 2031General Chemistry I3
or CHEM 2081 Honors General Chemistry I
CHEM 2038General Chemistry Laboratory I1
or CHEM 2039 Majors General Chemistry I Laboratory
or CHEM 2088 Honors General Chemistry I Laboratory
CHEM 2061General Chemistry II3
or CHEM 2091 Honors General Chemistry II Lecture
CHEM 2068General Chemistry Laboratory II2
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
Infectious Disease Ecology
Virology
Molecular Biology Laboratory
Conservation Biology
Genomics and Bioinformatics
Mechanisms of Animal Behavior
Plant Structure and Development
Flora of Colorado
Microbial Genomics
Applied Microbial Ecology
Biogeography
Environmental Toxicology
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):
Introduction to Biotechnology
Behavioral Genetics
Introduction to Molecular Biology
Advanced Topics
Advanced Special Topics with Lab
Plant Diversity
Ecology Laboratory
Vertebrate Biology
Parasitology
General Cell Biology
General Microbiology
General Microbiology Lab
Developmental Biology
General Genetics
Independent Study
Internship
Advanced Biology Topics
Infectious Disease Ecology
Virology
Molecular Biology Laboratory
Conservation Biology
Genomics and Bioinformatics
Mechanisms of Animal Behavior
Plant Structure and Development
Flora of Colorado
Microbial Genomics
Applied Microbial Ecology
Biogeography
Environmental Toxicology
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 Hours41-42

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.