Solid intro to ecology/biology if you plan to take a similar course in highschool

Course is labeled as medium but the course is pretty easy. The long videos can be intimidating, but the quizzes are very easy to pass with a bit of knowledge of the subject.

A well structured introductory course to ecology and concepts of conservation.

Thank you very much for teaching this course.

The course content is very valuable and you will definitely receive lots of useful information on the ecosystem and of course learn a lot! However, the course materials are poorly organized for online learning purposes. At first, there are lots of reading materials (instead of the lecture) which are very similar to textbooks. These reading materials have a poor connection to the series of lectures which are interesting but they were not recorded for online learning purposes. The lectures are videos from a summer school.

ok content, but very low level. I was able to pass the quizzes without reading any materials or watching any videos. I was hoping that the course would be more challenging for Conservation professionals

I would like to thank Dr. Ana Porzecanski, the American Museum of Natural History and the Howard Hughes Medical Institute for providing this enlightening course. I enrolled to learn how to pursue research in this field. Introducing ecology through the case of Gorongosa National Park and systems thinking was very engaging. I found systems thinking is also useful in analyzing phenomena in other fields. I wish you include a little peer review activity where learners apply systems thinking on a phenomena. The tools, readings, new outlook to conservation, and Biointeractive simulations provided by the HHMI were very helpful for exploring the world’s biomes. I would also like to thank the professors who’s HHMI lectures were included in the course. I gained a lot of insights. Dr. Tarnita gave me a new outlook to how math and calculus can apply in ecology; mapping the journey of seeds throughout an ecosystem. I recommend this course to anyone who is interested in pursing ecology or a related field.

I thoroughly enjoyed this high-quality course! Week by week, I gained a greater appreciation of the importance of ecology and conservation – not only for targeted individual species but for the interactive balance of whole ecosystems. I learned not only what was being studied within the vast field of ecology but also how it was being studied, including field experiments and mathematical modelling. It was exciting to be taken along for the ride and see the research unfold with new data. The relations between termite behaviour, mathematical patterns in landscapes and their effects on the rest of the ecosystem are mind-blowing.

Be aware that the readings take quite a bit longer than 10 minutes, and there is occasionally some overlap between an article and a video. I was slightly disappointed that my good questions (in my opinion) on the discussion forum barely got answers, but perhaps they are yet to come. I do highly recommend checking out the further resources provided.

The material in this course from Dr Pringle and Dr Tarnita was very engaging and informative. I liked that they explained their methods and worked through their hypotheses using data, analysis and experiment to show that what seems like a messy and complicated system can be understood systematically. My only disappointment with the course was to hear how destructive modern crop production, deforestation and fossil fuel burning to our planet is while hearing no mention of the impacts of intensive animal agriculture on our ecosystems. The impacts of intensive animal agriculture on our greenhouse gas emissions, environmental pollution, deforestation and land and water use are significant and this course feels incomplete without a mention to it. This course that will likely be taken by many students who are passionate about the environment and so it would be a great opportunity to encourage individual action such as the adoption of a more plant-based lifestyle.

Marvelous, Fantastic, and Amazing experience of being a part of this online course. As I am already post- graduate in Masters of Science in Biodiversity and Conservation from India. So I was aware of the basics of this course but the learning part was of implementation of those concepts in the actual world. Yes, We as a Biodiversity Conservationist should always think for sustainable approaches and affect less to nature.

Now about the content of this online course was really insightful and also the upgraded research studies I got to know here. All respected scientists, lecturers, professors, field workers as well conservationists were amazing, humble, kind, very nice in delivering and explaining the content. I really enjoyed taking this course.

Keep on organizing such great free online courses and aware more about such concepts to conserve world biodiversity. Thank you all.

I absolutely loved taking this course! I've always loved biology and learning about the environment, and this class really furthered my knowledge on different ecological processes and conservation. I have a much better understanding of how different species play such a crucial role in their ecosystem as well as how biotic and abiotic factors influence the environment. Learning about how humans play a role in the ecosystem has made me more aware of the ways in which we can preserve the planet and restore the biodiversity of global ecosystems. I highly recommend this class to anyone interested in the environment, conservation and repopulation of different species, and how ecologists are taking a biocultural stance when deciding how to preserve ecosystems around the world.

Wow, this is an amazing course, well organized, starting big and broad and zooming in progressively from there to build a very comprehensive introduction to ecology. Ultimately, this course is about more than just about "plants and animals," though: It's about a whole way of making sense of the world using systems thinking. I came away from it seeing the world around me differently, from the current COVID crisis, to the world economy, to climate and weather. Systems thinking is one of the great evolutions in our modern worldview, and I feel I have got a basic introduction to it here. Also, the readings were very thoughtful and helpful, the videos were slick and entertaining, and the instructors were experts. A+

This is an unique introduction to ecology and conservation. It goes beyond just basics of ecology and focuses on how ecology is practiced in conservation. Centering the course around a specific example like Gorongosa was an excellent idea, it really helped highlight how ecology can be applied in conservation. The readings and lectures were very interesting and thought-provoking. I have taken a beginner ecology course before, so some of the concepts were familiar to me and I did not have any difficulty following the course - however maybe a proper beginner may face difficulties with some of the topics. Still overall it is an enjoyable course that takes a refreshing and fascinating approach to teaching ecology.

This is the first course that I complete. Every reading and video is interesting and motivates for further learning. I am very happy that we have access to this quality content and knowledge for free. The case study shows how the systemic approaches of Ecology can be put into practice for solving some of the greatest challenges that we as humanity have. There are many philosophical and ethical questions involved and the discussions on different approaches and points of view are of great value. I recommend this course to anyone passionate and interested in understanding better how nature works and how important it is for us to support our decisions on scientific knowledge. Thank you!

This course went beyond my expectations. It was a great introduction and guide to ecology, and managed to keep my curiosity for the subject going throughout the weeks. I especially love how the instructor based the course on a single conservation project in Mozambique, making it easier for the learners to follow what's being discussed. This course broadened my knowledge and passion for the field of wildlife conservation, and I am thankful to the instructors for putting all their time and effort into making this a wonderful experience for me, and for others! I am a high school student chasing his dreams, and I think taking this course motivated me to continue my desire to learn.

Even though I haven't finished this course at the time I write this review but I simply can't wait :) This a great course for those are interested in learning about conservation and ecosystem. It explains the importance of conversation very well, especially in this age of global climate change, as well as some research areas such as ecosystem services and resilience. I would highly recommend this course for high school students who wanna discovery about this particular field, as well as environmental undergraduate/master students (any who related to environmental studies) for a better understanding about the ecological protection and conservation.

I learned a lot from this course and I strongly reccomend it. As I'm not a native English speaker, I was rather overwhelmed by the considerable amount of readings, but the contents were not so difficult and there were many graphs and illustrations that made them fairly easy to understand. I am not young but if I have a chance, I would definitely want to work as a conservationist. Some of the videos were in lecture style and both speakers were really nice and the lectures were definitely worth listening to, but the explanations on math sometimes went really fast, so I couldn't follow. But the quiz didn't go deeper so it was a big relief.

Hello friends !!

I am Ajit from India. Being biotechnologist and fascinated by conservation work, I really wanted to explore my knowledge about ecology and conservation. I am happy with this course and this course completed all my expectations. I really recommend this course to those who are working in the fields of conservation, ecology and wildlife. The course materials include contemporary ecological studies, and research data that really help understanding the current scenario and related concepts. Thank you Coursera for arranging such a great course along with American Museum of Natural History and Howard Hughes Medical Institute.

Very enjoyable course - the lectures were informative and delivered with clarity, and Gorongosa was a very engaging case study. I was surprised that there were several references to the Hudson River mussels which I don't recall being covered in any detail, but other than that, the readings were very helpful in providing the background knowledge necessary to follow the lectures. I particularly enjoyed the mathematical modelling and would have loved understanding an approach which might be used to model zebra populations (i.e. very low populations where stochastic effects might dominate and the logistic growth curve does not hold).

I would like to thank all the researchers who participated in making this wonderful course! Started in a simple way, the classes then gradually presented more complex and in-sight issues and gave detailed explanation to ecological definitions in a most comprehensive manner. Given examples helped complete the understanding of different ecological situations. I enjoyed the documentaries and lectures of all researchers. Now I wish to one day visit Gorongosa National Park, as well as meet all these researchers who work so hard to conserve the nature of our home, Earth! Thank you again! Best wishes!

O curso apresenta os conceitos fundamentais da ecologia e da biologia da conservação de forma prática. Como uma pessoa sem formação prévia na área, fiquei muito feliz por ter acesso a um conteúdo de qualidade, sucinto e ao mesmo tempo profundo. Recomendo esse curso a todos que queiram conhecer mais sobre as diversas abordagens da conservação em discussão atualmente e entender como ecólogos e biólogos da conservação aplicam seus conhecimentos para entender as dinâmicas existentes em ecossistemas complexos, como eles são afetados pela atividade humana e como isso pode vir a ser revertido.

This course changed the way I thought about ecosystems entirely and enabled for me to completely embrace the systems thinking idea. It was also very enjoyable and led me to realize my interest in ecology and also modelling ecological systems. It was very interesting to learn about how ecosystems can be approached differently and how the butterfly effect has a very significant place in ecosystem dynamics. Additionally, the way the concepts were given in readings followed by videos enforcing the ideas into the specific scenario made the learning more permanent.

Excellent foundational course in ecology with a fascinating case study component. I am an ecologist by training, and found this to be a great "refresher" course on ecological concepts and theorems. I especially enjoyed the closing lectures on biocultural conservation and sustainability--many ecology texts neglect the human component rather than emphasize it! I would strongly recommend this course to anyone seeking a basic understanding of ecological principles, or with a general curiosity about natural interactions.

I enjoyed the course it covered a lot of material from the basics to application. The lecturers were engaging and additional readings were informative. I worked in a reserve in E. Africa in the 70s so the political history and impact was interesting as something similar occured where I was. My only criticism, and I suspect this is only me, I wrote in long hand !! most of the readings and one lecture b/c they would not print - it took many additional hours - which, I guess shows my interest in the course.

This course was very exciting for me. At first i really didn't know which course to do, but i saw this Ecology course and decided to try it. I have no regrets. I love the environment and this study has opened my eyes to so much that we humans tend to ignore. The lectures made each lecture simple and interesting for me thus making my course even more excited. I would definitely recommend this to all who has a passion for a balance in the use or our biodiversity and all ecosystems and the world at large.