New Course Announcements

Summer 2017

Warnell Courses

Conservation Medicine and Conservation Biology (WILD(ECOL) 4575&L  and 6575&L; 6 credit hours) is a course aimed at pre-med, pre-vet, wildlife, biology and veterinary and graduate students who are interested in the intersection of wildlife and human health and conservation. During the course we travel to various ecosystems and discuss conservation problems and focus on how these problems influence the health and disease emergence for wildlife and people. We also discuss and practice techniques needed to investigate these problems. The first week we will work at a wildlife rehabilitation center that focuses on herpetofauna—there we will discuss the reasons why wildlife conflicts occur, why animals end up at the rehabilitation centers, how they are cared while they are there and how to prepare them for release. We will work with the rehabilitators on various species. We will spend the second week at a tropical research station in lowland rainforest where we will handle wildlife, but also discuss ways to design projects to investigate common conservation/ecological questions. The last week we will be in San Luis, home of UGA Costa Rica where we will focus on the relationships between people and conservation and their sustainability efforts and once again, view it from the perspective of health. All along we study the concepts of tropical ecology, the natural history of wildlife of Costa Rica, and about the country’s culture. The course instructor has a long legacy of working in Costa Rica with tapirs and most recently her dissertation on avian pathogens. The pre-requisites for this course are Biol 1107/1108. The course dates have yet to be determined, but it is estimated to run for 3 weeks in early June. The approximate cost is $3,000 plus airfare. If you are interested and / or have further questions, please email Dr. Sonia Hernandez at shernz@uga.edu and Henry Adams (the TA) athenryca@uga.edu.