This course is part of a unique partnership with the Semester in Environmental Science (SES) of Marine Biological Laboratories (MBL). This program is open to students who have completed courses in chemistry, biology, and math and discussed their interest with the Chair of the Department of Natural Sciences and Mathematics and are prepared to spend the semester at MBL in Woods Hole, Long Island. This is one of five courses in the semester-length program and cover terrestrial ecosystems from the point of view of biogeochemistry and important ecological processes. In the field and laboratory students spend the first eight weeks of the course with an intensive study of ecosystems processes, such as primary production and nitrogen mineralization, and properties such as standing stock, plant diversity and soil carbon and nitrogen content across the disturbance gradient in grassland, forest and suburban sites in the towns of Mashpee and Falmouth, MA. This course satisfies the Intermediate Level Course requirements for the Interdisciplinary Science Major. Permission of the Chair of the Department of Natural Sciences and Mathematics required and an application to the Semester in Environmental Science. For more info see: https://www.mbl.edu/ses/ and select “courses” from the top of the menu. Applications are due by February 1 internally to the Chair.