Biogeography uses ideas from biology, geography and history to explain the panorama of life on Earth. This course provides students with a broad introduction to important concepts and issues in ecology and environmental science. Over the semester, we’ll investigate how weather and climate affects the distribution of species, how individuals interact with their own species and others, and discuss why species expand or go extinct. Within this framework, we’ll also examine the many ways humans, either as individuals or in groups, act as agents of biotic change.

1. GEOG1403
BIOGEOGRAPHY OF THE
GLOBAL
GARDEN

2. June 11, 2007
Humanity made history.

3. Photograph: Andrew Munsch

4. rural urban
population population

5. Photograph: zman z28

6. nature can seem distant and alien

7. Photograph: C.C. Chapman

8. Photograph: anotherpioneer

9. Photograph: Judy Baxter

12. DOES NATURE REALLY
MATTER ANY MORE?

13. ABSOLUTELY IT DOES

14. A wildfire burns near the Los Alamos Laboratory in Los Alamos, New Mexico, on June 28, 2011.
Jae C. Hong/Associated Press

15. The carcass of a cow decomposes on the side of a road near Lagbogal, Kenya.
Sayyid Azim/Associated Press

16. The Quad Cities River Bandits and the Peoria Chiefs play a game inside the Mississippi River on April 20, 2011.
Paul Colle i/The Dispatch/AP

19. WHAT IS
NATURE WORTH?

20. GEOG1403
BIOGEOGRAPHY OF THE
GLOBAL
GARDEN

21. This course is NOT about environmental activism.
Photograph: paolaharvey

22. This course
IS about
environmental
SCIENCE.

23. OUR ENVIRONMENT

24. OUR ENVIRONMENT
living
things
The MAIN focus
of our course.

25. THE BIOSPHERE
the global ecological system including all living things,
as well as their relationships with the elements of
the lithosphere, hydrosphere and atmosphere.

26. We’ll start with the fundamentals
of our physical environment

27. How do species interact
with their environment?
Photograph: Frank Kovalchek

28. Why do some organisms thrive...
Photograph: Ki en Wants

29. ...while others disappear?

30. “ Biogeography is the study of the facts and the
patterns of species distribution. It's the science
concerned with where animals are, where plants
are, and where they are not.
”
David Quammen, Song of the Dodo

31. Provided by the SeaWiFS Project, NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center and ORBIMAGE

32. Photograph: Kitsu

33. 3
MINUTES

34. STEP ONE
Turn to the person on your left and introduce yourself.
(If you don’t have anyone on your left,
join the two folks to your right).

35. STEP TWO
Identify TWO ways the environment has
an influence on your life.
(Be as specific as you can)

36. WHAT IS
NATURE WORTH?
TOYOU

37. Who am I?

38. DR.
SCOTT
ST. GEORGE
ASSISTANT PROFESSOR
DEPARTMENT OF GEOGRAPHY

39. Please call me
Scott

40. history

41. environmental history

42. Collecting specimens to study tree growth in southern Arizona

43. Taken during my first trip in a helicopter, flying over the northern Rockies.

44. X
Photograph: Arlen Tees

45. X

46. X

47. Where am I from?

49. Winnipeg
Minneapolis

50. Winnipeg Jets Hockey Club

52. What are my
qualifications?

53. Bachelor of Science Master of Science Doctor of Philosophy
University of Winnipeg University of Western Ontario University of Arizona

55. h p://umn.edu/~stgeorge

56. www.twi er.com/sco stgeorge

57. What will you
get out of this class?

58. Former GEOG1403 students studying how natural hazards affect Minnesota’s forests.

59. ! Biological Sciences requirement
! Environmental Theme requirement

62. We’re in charge.

63. GEOG1403
XT C L AS S
NE We’ll talk about
how this course
is going
to work.

64. By FRIDAY’S CLASS
READ THE SYLLABUS

65. IF YOU WANT TO BE ADDED TO THE
WAITING LIST
Send an email to Ms. Bonnie Williams
Department of Geography
willi046@umn.edu