BIO 525 is intended to bring students with a baseline knowledge of ecology to a deeper understanding of and experience with the way that ecological studies are conceived, conducted, analyzed and interpreted. BIO 525 is a series of modules that introduce students to the field site and most basic methods and then to a set of research systems for which the group is challenged to come up with the study design, analysis, and interpretation. These modules will address important issues in contemporary ecology and will build on what students learned in previous undergraduate ecology courses.