NTRSPHD - Natural Resources

Core Major Units: 20
Additional Emphasis Units: 34
Required Minor Units: 9
Total Minimum Degree Units: 63

Minimum Emphasis Units

34 (in addition to Core Major Units and Minor Units above)

Emphasis Core Coursework Requirements

The following four courses or their equivalents (12 units)

• course: Grazing Ecology and Management (2)

• course: Management and Restoration of Wildland Vegetation (4)

• course:Rangeland Inventory and Monitoring (4)

• course: Rangeland Management Plan (2)

Emphasis Elective Coursework

Additional Courses include but are not limited to the following:

• course: Physical Aspects of Arid Lands (3)

• course: Use and Management of Arid Lands (3)

• course: Biostatistics in Public Health  (3)

• course: Plant Population Ecology (1-3) 

• course: Environmental Microbiology  (3)

• course: Soil Physics  (3)

• course: Soil, Water, and Environmental Science (1)

• course: Physical Geography (3)

• course: Ecology of Savannas, Shrublands and Woodlands (3)

• course: Rangeland Management (1-2)

• course: Independent Study (1-3) 

• course: Restoration Ecology (2)

• course: Climate Change and Dryland Ecosystem Ecology (4)

 Minimum GPA in all coursework must be ≥ 3.0

Additional Emphasis Requirements

See additional requirements for overall plan above.

Minor Requirements for Doctoral Students in this Emphasis

See minor requirements for overall plan above.

Minimum Emphasis Units

34 (in addition to Core Major Units and Minor Units above)

Emphasis Core Coursework Requirements

Students develop a tailored program specific to their needs and interests. Students are required to take course: Fishery Management (3) and course: Fishery Management Lab (1) unless they’ve previously taken an equivalent course. 

Emphasis Elective Coursework

Additional coursework can include but is not limited to the following:

• course: Aquatic Entomology (4)  

• course: Conservation Genetics (3)

• course: Limnology (4) 

• course: Population Ecology (3)

• course: Aquaculture (3)

• course: Stream Ecology (3)

• course: Wildlife Habitat Analysis (2)

• course: Wildland Water Quality (3)

• course: Working with Ecological Data in R (2)

• course: Communication Skills in Conservation  (3)

• course: Statistics For Research (3)

• course: Aquatic Plants and the Environment (4)

• course: Conservation Biology (3)

• course: Freshwater and Marine Algae (4)

• course: Ichthyology (4)  

• course: Fundamentals of Ecology (3)

 Minimum GPA in all coursework must be ≥ 3.0

Additional Emphasis Requirements

See additional requirements for overall plan above.

Minor Requirements for Doctoral Students in this Emphasis

See minor requirements for overall plan above.

Minimum Emphasis Units

34 (in addition to Core Major Units and Minor Units above)

Emphasis Core Coursework Requirements

Students are encouraged to design a plan of study that is appropriate for their interests. Each student identifies 2 concentration areas with ≥ 9 units in each area or 3 concentration area, with ≥ 6 units in each area.  One course in applied statistics or research methods is required.

These courses can be taken at the graduate level to fulfill coursework deficiencies:

• course: Conservation Planning and Wildland Recreation (3)

• course: Rangeland Inventory and Monitoring (4)

• course: The Economics and Social Connections to Natural Resources (3)

Emphasis Elective Coursework

Additional coursework can include but is not limited to the following:

• course: Traditional Ecological Knowledge (3)

• course: Conservation & Community  (3)

• course: Economics of Water and Environmental Markets and Incentive-based Policies (3)

• course: Biostatistics in Public Health (3)

• course: Global Change Research, Application, and Decision-Making (3)

• course: Global Change Toolkit (1)

• course: Computer Cartography (3)

• course: The Climate System (3)

• course: Making the Connection Between Science and Decision Making (3)

• course: Global Change (3)

• course: Qualitative Research Methods & Methodology (3)

• course: Sustainability and Environmental Policy (2 - 3)

• course: Water Law (3)

• course: International Environmental Law (3)

• course: Managing to Collaborate on Environmental and Natural Resources Conflicts (3)

• course: Remote Sensing for the Study of Planet Earth (3)

• course: Geographic Information Systems for Natural and Social Sciences (3)

• course: Cartographic Modeling for Natural Resources (3)

• course: Advanced Geographic Information Systems (3)

• course: Resource Mapping Using Unmanned Aircraft Systems (3)

• course: Climate Change Adaptation: Perspectives at the Nexus of Science, Society, & Resource Management (3) 

• course: Conservation Planning & Wildland Recreation (3)

• course: Geographic Applications of Remote Sensing (3)

• course: Climate Assessment: Explorations in Decision Support (3)

• course: Independent Study (1-3)

• course: Environmental Learning  (3)

 Minimum GPA in all coursework must be ≥ 3.0

Additional Emphasis Requirements

See additional requirements for overall plan above.

Students in the Natural Resource Studies option must also file a School-generated plan of study form which must be approved by the Program Chair prior to submitting the GradPath POS form. The form indicates how courses in the major must be structured to highlight interdisciplinary study that is the hallmark of this option.

Minor Requirements for Doctoral Students in this Emphasis

See minor requirements for overall plan above.

Minimum Emphasis Units

34 (in addition to Core Major Units and Minor Units above)

Emphasis Core Coursework Requirements

Coursework includes a minimum of 6 units from the list of courses provided below.

• course: Introduction to Dendrochronology (4)

• course: Climate Change and Dryland Ecosystem Ecology (4) 

• course: Watershed Hydrology (4)

• course: Watershed Management (3)

• course: Wildland Water Quality (3)

• course: Ecological Climatology (3)

• course: Fire Ecology (3)

• course: Conservation Planning & Wildland Recreation (3)

• course: Biosphere-Atmosphere Interactions (3) 

• course: Ecosystem Ecology and a Sustainable Future (3) 

• course: Economics of Water and Environmental Markets and Incentive-based Policies (3)

• course: Physical Aspects of Arid Lands (3)

Emphasis Elective Coursework

Additional Courses include but are not limited to the following:

• course: Soil, Water, and Environmental Science (1)

• course: Global Change Research, Application, and Decision-Making (3)

• course: Global Change Toolkit (1)

• course: Global and Regional Climatology (3)

• course: Physical Geography (3)

• course: Geomorphology and Landscape Evolution (3)

• course: Global Change (3)

• course: Paleoclimatology (3)

• course: Modes of Climate Variability (4)

• course: Applied Time Series Analysis (1 - 3)

• course: Topics in Dendrochronology (1 - 4)

• course: Independent Study (1 - 3)

• course: Watershed Management (1 - 2)

 Minimum GPA in all coursework must be ≥ 3.0

Additional Emphasis Requirements

See additional requirements for overall plan above.

Minor Requirements for Doctoral Students in this Emphasis

See minor requirements for overall plan above.

Minimum Emphasis Units

34 (in addition to Core Major Units and Minor Units above)

Emphasis Core Coursework Requirements

Students develop a tailored program specific to their needs and interests. Students are required to take course: Wildlife Ecology, Conservation and Management (4) unless they’ve taken an equivalent course.

Emphasis Elective Coursework

Additional coursework can include but is not limited to the following:

• course: Conservation Genetics  (3)

• course: Population Ecology  (3)

• course: Wildlife Conservation Behavior (3) 

• course: Diseases of Wildlife  (3)

• course: Stream Ecology  (3)

• course: Wildlife Habitat Analysis (2)

• course: Biogeography and Conservation of the Sky Islands (2)

• course: Management and Conservation of Small Mammals (2)

• course: Principles of Research (3)

• course: Communication Skills in Conservation (3)

• course: Working with Ecological Data in R (2)

• course: Statistics For Research (3)

• course: Conservation Biology (3)

• course: Spatio-Temporal Ecology (3)

• course: Functional and Evolutionary Genomics (4)  

• course: Phylogenetic Biology (3)  

• course: Herpetology (4)  

• course: Ornithology (4) 

• course: Mammalogy (4)  

• course: Animal Behavior (3)

• course: Species Diversity (2)

• course: Special Topics Ecology and Evolution A (1-3) 

• course: Fundamentals Of Ecology (3)

• course: Applied Biostatistics (3)

 Minimum GPA in all coursework must be ≥ 3.0

Additional Emphasis Requirements

See additional requirements for overall plan above.

Minor Requirements for Doctoral Students in this Emphasis

See minor requirements for overall plan above.

• course: Renewable Natural Resources (1) - taken twice for 2 units total

• Dissertation (18)

See elective coursework for emphasis below.

First Semester Advisory Meeting: During your first semester you and your advisor will need to coordinate a meeting with the chair of the departmental option, another faculty member in SNRE, your advisor, and yourself. The purpose of this qualifying meeting is to orient you to the program, go over degree requirements, and provide initial guidance regarding your first few semesters. During the meeting, the attendees will review your background, research interests, and course needs. You will outline a preliminary master’s plan of study with the courses listed semester by semester, however, your final Plan of Study will be determined by your MS committee.

Annual reports are required and due by April 15th each year.

All PhD students need to declare a minor. Course work for a PhD minor depends on the requirements outlined by the minor department or program, but will be at least 9 units.

The courses you select for your minor must be approved by your minor advisor and your committee. Your minor advisor will sit on your comprehensive exam committee, but is not always required to sit on your dissertation defense committee.  Please check with the minor department for their specific requirements. 

Natural Resources PhD students are able to minor in Natural Resources with committee approval. The PhD minor in Natural Resources requires 12 units of coursework, and 6 of those units must be taught by SNRE faculty members.  Your Natural Resources minor advisor should be a SNRE faculty member.  See our faculty pages for information on our faculty member's research interests.

For a complete list of minors across campus, click here. 

Please refer to the Graduate Student Handbook for students who are pursuing this program of study.