Course Description


P6325   Medical ecology, 3 points

Medical ecology is a newly emerging hybrid science that seeks to define those aspects of the environment that have direct bearing on human health, regardless of where on earth we live. The concept of ecosystem functions plays a large role in helping to identify those global processes that contribute to our well-being (e.g., clean air, water, and food). Alterations in these aspects of our environment, which we in the developed world take for granted, lead to various states of ill health. Ecological principles, when applied to the human condition, will offer a resolution to the dichotomy of the "man versus nature" paradigm. Man is an integral part of nature, but most of the time we are unaware of our connectedness to the world's ecosystems. Thus medical ecology links natural processes with living on earth, from the point of view of being human. Our place on earth among the plants, animals, and microbes is redefined by medical ecology in terms of ecosystem functions. The environment in which we live is defined by the characteristics of the physical, chemical, and biological niches (i.e., essential niche, as defined by Hutchinson). It is in this complex setting that we carry out our lives, and through our life cycle we interface with a variety of environmental situations, most of which are either neutral or beneficial to our well-being, while a few can threaten our very existence. Evaluation of student performance is by a midterm and a final exam. Emphasis of presentations will be on the role of agriculture on re-shaping the natural landscape and its health consequences.