Courses

Courses from our lab group focus on marine biological sciences, ecology, and social-ecological systems. We emphasize creative problem solving, hands-on and immersive learning, multiple ways of knowing, and anti-racist and inclusive teaching methods based on available best practices.

  • Fall semester, UC Berkeley, annually. Coral reefs are biodiverse, productive, valuable ecosystems threatened by global change stressors. In this course, we explore the biotic and abiotic components of coral reefs and the factors contributing to reef construction and decline over time and space. We address how symbioses influence reef health and function and how a given set of species may profoundly benefit or antagonize one another under different circumstances. We also examine how coral reef ecosystems interact with larger ocean hydrodynamic and biogeochemical cycles at multiple spatial and temporal scales. Finally, we explore the major disturbances and threats to coral reefs and evaluate proposed solutions in terms of their potential benefits, costs, unknowns, and feasibility.

  • Fall semester, UC Berkeley, annually. There is a growing, common understanding that ocean resources risk depletion and collapse but disagreement over who should adjust their actions, and by how much. Who decides on rules of ocean use, and how? What frameworks exist for sharing ocean resources, and what tradeoffs do they entail? What motivations drive human actions and negotiations in the ocean, and what role does science play? Can lessons from past successes and failures be distilled into guiding principles for equitable ocean management, and what core gaps and challenges remain? Through readings, case studies, and interactive activities, this class examines the governance of common-pool resources in the ocean. Guest speakers from diverse careers in ocean conservation will offer real-world perspectives on influencing ocean law and policy.

  • Fall semester, UC Berkeley, intermittent. Through a series of discussions, students share and receive guidance and practical tools for pursuing excellence in their fields while equitably centering the values, ethics, and practices of communities. This course probes the power structures embedded in the relationship between universities and communities and analyze case studies of science built from equitable relationships with communities. The course touches on a nascent but growing body of protocols on co-produced research to help students map plans for engaging local organizations and people in research. Topics addressed include data sovereignty, funding, attribution and intellectual property, and design and selection of research questions, methods, and project teams.

  • Other courses taught previously include The Social Ocean (Stanford University) and Biological Oceanography (UC Davis). R. Carlson is co-developing a college-level Queer Ecology curriculum with colleagues from UC Santa Cruz.