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Arid and semiarid environments, commonly known as “deserts,” make up about one-third of the earth’s land surface and are home to more than one billion people. We will begin this course by discussing the geographical features of desert regions, answering seemingly simple questions: What is a desert, and why do they occur where they do? While humans are particularly maladapted to life in deserts, many other organisms present in these environments exhibit remarkable and compelling adaptations to aridity and other desert-associated conditions. We will investigate examples of these within plants from different desert regions, highlighting these species’ functional roles within desert ecosystems. The key question will be: How do these plants grow and develop in these environments? Significant events in human history occurred in deserts, as do many issues in contemporary politics, international relations, and natural resource use. Throughout the course, we will consider humans and their influences on desert environments focusing on the consequences and sustainability of these actions. We will consider much more challenging questions here: how does society steward deserts, and what are the consequences of failing to do this properly?

Please Note: This course is an updated version of the same course offered by Professor Smith in Summer 2018.