Upon successful completion of the course, students will be able to: identify the three key principles of ecological sustainability and how they promote healthy and thriving ecosystems; explain how healthy ecosystems utilize solar energy and nutrient cycling to promote biodiversity; describe the effects of climate and geography on the development of various biomes throughout the globe and the effects these biomes have on the sustainability of life on earth; explain how evolutionary processes result in increased biodiversity and sustainability within ecosystems; explain how population dynamics and resource availability regulate various ecosystems; explain the water cycle and how humans have altered riparian environments; and explain and identify ways in which human activity is both positively and negatively impacting global ecosystems throughout the globe.