ESS 35N: Ecosystem Restoration and the Carbon Cycle
General Education Requirements
Not currently certified for a requirement. Courses are typically considered for Ways certification a quarter in advance.
Course Description
In this course, we will explore the implications of ecosystem restoration for the carbon cycle and its potential to mitigate climate change. Human activities such as deforestation, agriculture and urbanization have dramatically transformed Earth’s surface, resulting in major changes to the carbon cycle. Here, we will explore these impacts, alongside the potential to restore terrestrial ecosystems to sequester carbon and reduce greenhouse gas emissions. We will also explore co-benefits of ecosystem restoration, such as improved water quality, increased biodiversity, flood prevention and erosion control.
We will take an interdisciplinary approach to understanding the challenges and opportunities associated with ecosystem restoration, pulling from principles of biogeochemistry, ecology, hydrology and environmental management. The course will include a combination of presentations, interactive discussions, in-class activities and field trips. We will discuss case studies from around the world, from the salt marshes of the San Francisco Bay to mangrove restoration in the tropics. Class field trips are an important component of the course, and will offer a chance for hands-on learning in local ecosystems.
Meet the Instructor: Alison Hoyt
“I am a faculty member in the Department of Earth System Science in the Doerr School of Sustainability, where I lead the Terrestrial Carbon Cycle Group. We study how biogeochemical cycles respond to human impacts, such as climate and land use change. Much of our work focuses on the most vulnerable and least understood carbon stocks in the tropics and the Arctic. This takes members of our research group to field sites around the world, from the Brazilian Amazon, to the peatlands of Indonesia, to the mangroves of Ecuador. We use a combination of field measurements, modeling and remote sensing to tackle these questions.
“I completed my PhD at MIT and my postdoctoral training at the Max Planck Institute for Biogeochemistry prior to joining Stanford. My academic training spans biogeochemistry, hydrology, environmental engineering, international development and the carbon cycle. I strive to both better understand fundamental biogeochemical processes and drivers of the carbon cycle, and to apply this knowledge through solutions-oriented research.”
